On Monday, November 8th, just before 3.30 PM, the Kick-FM station manager brought Red River College vice-president Graham Thomson into the studio. I was doing pre-show preparations for the 4 PM start time with Bob Axford. Thomson nervously pulled out a small piece of paper which, he said, he was ordered not to provide a copy of.
It stated that the "executive committee" of the Kick-FM corporate board, held a meeting last week and decided to refocus the station for its purpose as an instructional tool for the Cre-Comm students, especially in the prime time hours. Therefore, the board has canceled The Great Canadian Talk Show.
That was it. No thank you and nothing in writing.
Questions were patiently asked:
Was there a complaint to the CRTC? no.
To the Kick-FM Board? no.
Was the executive committee aware of the number of students from RRC and other local colleges already involved in the program on a daily basis? no.
Who is on the committee? names were given.
Was there any discussion with the students about the value they placed on the program and the work being done? No.
Well, what about other programs hosted by non-students, with 3 examples named of shows constantly cross-promoted with TGCTS?
Thomson went silent. Finally whispered, I didn't know that. Fumbling, he said, we'll, we'll have to consider them as well.
Have any of them been canceled? No.
(That would have included the Winnipeg Free Press show, which aired at 3 different times on Wednesday, starting at 4 PM)
Even though the bearer of bad news, Thomson quietly stated that personally, although he did not like everything he heard on the show, he was a fan and appreciated what it had accomplished with the students and community. He did not have a vote; as I learned neither did 6 other board members. There was no consultation with the full board, leaving out the student reps, leaving community reps in the dark, and without speaking to any student or volunteer involved with the program (many of whom only found out the next day from Twitter and Facebook).
The decision was made by 4 people.
Two are Red River College administrators.
Thomson denied the college pressured their people on the executive. The College has nothing to do with it, he said.
The other 2 behind this decision, are commercial radio chain general managers, who are on the board because they are prospective employers of the students.
What Thomson did not know, was that there was a leak inside RRC. A big one.
Over the weekend, bloggers had gotten near-identical appeals from an an insider, who was disturbed about the well-known imminent cancellation of the show and the real reasons for it. And, the tip said, pressure had been put upon the College to do something about Marty Gold. Pressure from powerful interests. CTV got a similar tip.
And then the College had put pressure on their people on the executive after all, because the College funds the station for $50,000 a year (used to $80,000.)
Was this true, I asked, naming names.
Thomson said "no comment".
Next installment: what Red River College students say about the value of TGCTS to their education and to the community, compared to the new "format" of unsupervised student talk.
