From the Unarchive: "...like a slow divorce" (aka The Demise of the CBC Radio 3 R3-30 Podcast)
If you missed the explanation last time, my "Unarchive" is a collection of posts from my previous blogging adventures. Some of these posts were in draft form, but others were published. Last time, I reposted with corrections a 2016 post about one of the many nadirs in mid-80s Doctor Who history. This time, in honor of yesterday's Canadian federal elections, I have a draft from 2014 regarding the demise of one of my favorite radio shows and podcasts: The R3-30 from CBC Radio 3.
Note: Similar to last time, if a URL gets replaced from the original, the new link will be highlighted. If there's no sufficient replacement, the original link will be crossed out. Any edits for clarification will be in bold italics. Since this is a draft I'm publishing, these annotations may not fully apply here.
"...like a slow divorce"
Originally published 2014-03-15
February 7 made it official: The R3-30 podcast was officially killed off, even though its death had seemingly been foretold at the beginning of 2014
http://music.cbc.ca/#/blogs/2014/2/A-message-to-the-Radio-3-community-on-the-R3-30-podcast
a musical era had ended for me, one that started for me in early 2009 when I was on a podcast kick and decided on a whim to see what I could find for Canadian music--that's how I came across CBC Radio 3
I went on a podcast binge for a couple months, going back to the beginnings of both the R3-30 and the weekly CBC Radio 3 podcast with Grant Lawrence; this meant that as I was listening to current episodes, I was simultaneously a couple years in the past, leading to some weird time dislocations such as hearing in the then-present day about a specific band, then hearing about the bands breaking up a couple years prior that eventually led to the formation of said specific band.
along the way, I encountered the happiest of all puppets, Jijou Fantoche, who accompanied me and L. to Arizona in the spring of 2009 (see photo in the Reactions section)
some bands had their own voices, some were Canadian equivalents of American bands, and then there was the Quebecois side that often was both simultaneously
CBC Radio 3 led me to their French sibling, Bande à part, which often delved into more experimental sounds than their English counterpart--more noise, more soundscapes, more metal
I could pick out a handful of words in French from the announcements, but I was more in tune (NPI) with the music
a very good argument can be made that the indie music scene would not be anywhere near as long-lasting had it not been for the presence of Canadian bands, which was something that CBC Radio 3 was proudly trumpeting
then came Dan Mangan, and things started to go pear-shaped for me--there's a definite dividing line at the end of 2009, which can be marked BDA and ADA
Dan's songs--very folkie, lots of sing-alongs and hand-clapping--were cute at first, but I quickly grew tired of them; unfortunately, the CBC R3 audience and/or staff didn't
more and more of the CBC R3's playlist started to show influences of Dan Mangan, as more songs were featured that tapped into the happy, almost childish vibe he possessed; after a while, the songs started to become generic to me--yep, there's the handclaps, there's the multiple voices singing along in the chorus, there's the uke, there's the glockenspiel...
Arcade Fire's breakthrough album, The Suburbs, loosened the DM spell in 2010-11, but shortly after that, there were changes to Radio 3 that really foretold of the present-day scenario I find myself with them
people move on, things change, and sometimes the changes really suck--you stick with what you know, often because it's comforting and familiar, and you hope that the changes could be temporary or that if Thing A goes away, a Thing B can come along to ease the loss of A
and sometimes, those changes are permanent, yet you still persevere--this is where the slow divorce of Robyn Hithcock fame becomes apt
a lot of changes were happening behind the scenes at Radio 3, with the general worldwide recession playing its part--funds were trimmed, programs ended, hosts left
"Breakfast Club" ended; "Track Of The Day" ended; "CBC Radio 3 Sessions" ended; and in a big surprise for me, Bande à part ended its broadcast run last year
the longtime hosts of the R3 podcast (Craig Norris and Pedro Mendes) went their separate ways in 2012--Jijou was unmasked as Pedro's alter ego during his last show in mid-May
Craig kept at the podcast for almost a year afterward, but it was a deflated version of the original--meanwhile, Grant Lawrence was taking breaks from his weekly show in 2012, and went on a paternal leave for a few months in 2013 that coincided with his show becoming a monthly broadcast/podcast
hosts for the R3-30 changed frequently after Craig left, and their playlist still featured a heavy dosage of child-like, generic indie
with hindsight, another main reason for changes with shows and broadcasters came about with the advent of CBC Music in 2012
CBC Music pushed more of a streaming-media model, akin to Spotify or Soundcloud, but with listener input to decide which songs gained more airplay
perhaps the longstanding broadcasters felt that social media input made some of their knowledge & suggestions irrelevant?
CBC Music was Canada-centric in terms of airplay and how you could listen to it--only CBC Radio 2, CBC Radio 3, and Sonica (Bande à part's adult-alternative replacement) would be available to hear outside of Canada
the other 40+ streams were available within Canada--various apps were designed for iOS, Android, and Blackberry, but they could only be downloaded in Canada stores; IP tracking also ensured that you couldn't use these apps if you were outside Canada
as the restrictions became tighter and the shows disappeared, as the playlist became less appealing to me, I really questioned what I was getting out of it, but I still hoped for a turnaround or for some of the old magic to come back
alas, the February announcement solidified the changes in CBC R3, and there's no coming back for me
let's hope that KEXP doesn't devolve down this road--for now, they're the closest replacement I have for CBC R3, though I'm open to any and all suggestions
Some reactions and reflections, 11 years later:
As it's been over a decade since I wrote the original, my hatred for Dan Mangan has subsided. I can listen to "Robots" and enjoy it, even though it does have a bit of twee to it. Meanwhile, it's that Arcade Fire reference which makes me cringe today.
I didn't castigate the Harper government as much as I should have for its cuts to the CBC, as they most certainly played a role with CBC Radio 3 and Bande à part's outputs.
What we now call "indie music" really got its start in Canada before going elsewhere in the US and also worldwide, whether as an original aesthetic or as an influence. Want to blame someone or something for the millennial whoop or the millennial stomp-clamp sound of the 2010s and onward? Look to the Canadian indie scene in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
A good argument can be made about "hustle culture" having its roots in the (Canadian) indie music scene. During the R3-30's run, it was rather common to hear of bands self-distributing their releases, running their own labels, changing band names or starting up new bands as side projects, and so forth. It's as if the indie scene was a forerunner of the scarcity culture we currently see with streaming as the primary mode of music distribution, thereby forcing bands to tour or hawk merch or license their music to make ends meet. Instead of saying the allegedly inspirational slogan "can't stop, won't stop," you should flip those two phrases around to more accurately reflect this scarcity model.
I still have my Jijou Fantoche puppet, as seen here during an April 2009 trip to Arizona. Jijou even accompanied me and L. when we saw Woodhands play at a tiny dive bar in St. Louis the following month.
In the interest of fairness, I should point out that in spite of his nickname, there are those who didn't believe back in the late Aughts that Jijou was the happiest of all puppets.
Some geo-locking still occurs with CBC Listen--which is now the name of CBC Music, which itself is now the name of CBC Radio 2, and no that's not confusing at all. You can listen to CBC Radio One and CBC Music through their website. Unfortunately, the CBC Radio 3 playlist won't stream unless you are either in Canada, or if your VPN connection goes through a Canadian city. The site recognizes your location, and will stream accordingly. To its credit, the Radio 3 playlist is somewhat current and not just stuck in the past. Nevertheless, I wasn't interested back then to get a VPN just to listen to streaming media, and I'm still not interested today.
Along with the geo-locking of CBC Music, the CBC aggressively pushed to enforce copyrights against RSS feeds, including podcasts. These copyright claims by the CBC came about as a result of their brief foray into running advertisements on public radio, which were stopped by 2016. Man, the CBC really got themselves into a mess around the time the R3-30 was cancelled.
My French vocabulary hasn't improved since I wrote the original article, but that wouldn't stop me from listening to a current take on Bande à part if one were to exist. Apparently, an unofficial follow-up to Bande à part existed for a while, parlabande.fm, but it last had an online presence in December 2014.
I had a brief KEXP phase, as mentioned at the end of the draft, but that fell by the wayside. I'm not sure why.
Finally, this is where I will once again state my firmly-held and likely irrational belief that streaming music and podcasts should change positions. That is, streaming music is now the main means of musical distribution, whereas podcasts are more of a spoken-word phenomenon. I'd make streaming media the realm of spoken-word media, much like talk radio, and make podcasts more music-centric as if they were physical releases with a start and an end.
And with that, I'll close the Unarchive. Until next time.