Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Perspective

Though it has only been two days thus far without The Great Canadian Talk Show on the airwaves, reaction to the show's sudden knee-jerk cancellation has been nothing short of astounding. As I write this, I am setting new site traffic records, and the day is all but half over.

More details will come this week. However details is not in the cards for today's post.

So what's it going to be? Feel like some perspective.

Fresh perspective?

First, James Turner, respected crime reporter for CBC (and a Cre-Comm graduate- ed.) sums up Marty Gold's four year program at Kick FM quite nicely. You can read that right here.

"I’ve been a quiet fan of the show for some time now, for the sole reason that regardless of one’s feelings about its host, it was information about Winnipeg that you just couldn’t get anywhere else.

In my view, the show’s recent coverage of the civic election was must-listen radio for those interested in civic issues."

Well said, James. The truth will stand forever, regardless of how low your opinion of Marty Gold can go: you would never have heard about Assiniboine Avenue if it were not for Marty, "Kim the traffic reporter," and myself, because the Free Press pretended the problem didn't exist.

You would never have heard about Ross Eadie's claim of NDP-backed financing and simultaneous denunciation of NDP faith for the new Protestantism - independent - because Melissa Martin forgot to mention it in her articles, or anything about the approximately ten formal complaints made to elections officer Mark Lemoine about it.

You will never hear a word uttered about Upper Fort Garry or the boondoggle that is the Canadian Museum for Human Rights....because the Winnipeg Free Press sends Gordon Sinclair Jr to wax sensationalism and drop a few tears unto his Remington keys to sway opinion.

After all, opinions can be easily swayed if you control information. Winnipeg was none the wiser until The Great Canadian Talk Show came along.

And there are those who would claim the show is right wing buffoonery.

From a comment left on Chris D:

This show was no alternative for the truth. It was a springboard for radical anti-social right wing nutbaggery. The kind of “get off my lawn!” paranoid vitriol that makes us laugh at the United States almost daily. Gold has let guests lie on air without ever correcting them or enforcing a shred of journalistic integrity.

Now this fellow has Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Christine O'Donnell and Fox News all mixed up with Marty Gold.

You'd never hear Marty suggest a mosque being built at Ground Zero was a terrible insult to a country, you'd never hear him suggest evolution was false, or make a case for abstinence, or lobby to ban masturbation, or call Africa a country, or make a mockery of a day of national pride by holding some protest march under the name of a hero who's been dead for more than a century.

For some, the truth goes in one ear and out the other. For folks like this, it gets plugged at the first ear. Talk to the hand I suppose.

This silliness to brand an informative show with such brash ignorance is again lost on the truth. Funny how the truth wins out all the time, in the end. Marty Gold was a platform for all political ideas and candidates. If the person sitting here at this computer writing this very blog post from somewhere to the left of centre can tune in and even actively participate in this show, it can't be all that radical. I abhor bigotry.

Nowhere else had candidate Judy-W for over 3 hours of long format interview. Nowhere else can even make that offer. Nowhere else would Jenny Gerbasi have the opportunity to defend her actions before being cut to make sure a commercial break was on time. Nowhere else was Scott Fielding even asked about Berry Street. Nowhere else WANTED to interview these people, and these candidates.

Hell, during this election? Candidate Ian Rabb had to worry about what the Free Press was going to write about him, for no good reason other than the Free Press is clearly more interested in tabloid election stories (unless it involves Ross Eadie or the NDP) than actually allowing candidates the chance to explain their views and platforms.

I happened to be in the studio that day. Here's a perspective shot of Mr Rabb.

Nowhere else would you have heard such extensive post-election coverage and analysis. Almost as if by the time the Friday paper had rolled out two days after the election, it was, there was an election? What election? Everything is same old same old, who cares right?

Well, Ian Rabb, despite his tabloid-worthy past, got a hell of a lot of votes. What does that mean for Fort Rouge? Who knows, it wasn't in the paper. Jarret Hannah was such a nice guy to not force a recount of Charleswood, but what does it say that a Liberal came that close in Toryland? Who knows.

What electiooooon, it's all the saaame Sam Katz blah blah.

How about the vote counts and the polls? Can we see them? Can you put it up online?

Where did you hear that kind of discussion?

The Great Canadian Talk Show.

Who decided these things were worthy of attention and analysis?

Marty Gold.

Nobody else is calling for things like a Civic Ombudsman.
Nobody else is calling for council meetings to be streamed online,
Nobody else is raising the issue of posting poll-by-poll results.
Nobody else is bashing 311 into it's desk with a phone. (See: figurative language).
Nobody else stood up for Eliminator RC, the people of Point Douglas and Elmwood.

There is, literally, nobody else in the media who stands up for the kinds of things I just mentioned on a daily basis. There is nobody else in the media who will give (other than a select couple) bloggers the time of day. Hell, despite the success of this blog, I'm STILL not mentioned on the Free Press blog list.

Marty Gold and The Great Canadian Talk Show gave voice to anybody who wanted it. Including people like myself, who would have never gotten as far as we have without that radio program.

Not just me, either. Red River College students. Board operators. It IS a training facility. That studio, that host and that talk show, that's REAL experience that Red River College simply cannot get without Marty Gold.

Have you sat in on a show? It can get pretty hectic, what with multiple guests in studio, people calling in, hitting breaks, playing the right splitters, turn this guy's mic down turn that guy's mic up.

In particular, "Young Josh" former RRC student and Dave Shorr both highly credit The Great Canadian Talk Show as irreplaceable experience. The board ops that have moved to other places in this country owe similar thanks to Marty Gold for providing them that opportunity to learn skills they can get nowhere else.

This day and age, many people are acutely aware of how the media spins things, covers things up. Many people have suspicions of government corruption but they can never know for sure, nothing is ever investigated. Many people wish their newspaper of record would not take sides, would publish something of substance, many people wish CJOB didn't ask lame questions when the Premier is on or screen calls. People KNOW calls are being screened.

People know about The Filter. If you've never experienced The Filter directly, you can sense it somehow. They aren't telling you everything. There's something else going on. It's fishy. It doesn't seem right.

Marty Gold's radio program was right. It felt right. You can try as hard as you want, but you can't sense The Filter, how can you, when Judy-W is on for 90 minutes and she's allowed to talk and expand on her points? How can you, when three or four sources are cited for one story or incident?

The plug was pulled, without rhyme or reason. No formal complaint was EVER made against the show. RRC states it is because they want to remove volunteer programming, yet this program, was the ONLY program cancelled.

You can read some of the details on and support the fight back.
Posted by Graham at 12:58 PM
Labels: Great Canadian Talk Show