Do you feel what I’m feeling?

I can’t help but feel it.

It started in my lower abdomen, and has crept up to my esophagus.

Hell, I’m practically wading in it.

Tea Makers blog posts are up, in both quality and quantity.

The calibre of our contributers and commenters is unprecedented: the best punditry since measurement began.

Utilization of the links in the new, 3rd column is up 80%.

Blog posts are getting much stronger:
· Lots of great new posts; and
· Less Allan.

Believe it or not, our lunch-hour share last week was the same as InsidetheCBC’s.

CBCers are lunching, and learning, and laughing in greater numbers than ever before.

Last year, on average only 20% of blog comments were positive; so far this year, it’s more than doubled to about 50%.

Most notably, the ‘fuck yous’ are down from 2005 highs, marred only by the odd ‘beyond rebuke.’

We seem actually to be on a roll.

I congratulate you, the Tea Makers reader.

And you should congratulate yourselves.

It was a good year. Next year should be better still.

Well done. Happy Holidays.

15 Comments

  • Anonymous says:

    Can they feel Fuchs in radio?

  • Anonymous says:

    EEEEEWWWWWW! I can feel it…in the pit of my stomach!

  • Ouimet says:

    Well hello there Mrs. Blistering Barnacles, it’s nice to meet you. All these years I thought you were someone else.

    As for statistics, I admit that I don’t keep a close eye on them. And come to think of it, I extrapolated that 2/3 number some time ago. I got some numbers from the stats and tried to guess the rest. It’s probably wrong.

    I think the CBC retiree represents a large silent minority, although I have nothing that proves this besides anecdotal evidence.

    Recently I met a retiree who didn’t know he was talking to Ouimet, and he told me how much he loved the blog, and that he read it every day.

    When it came to Ouimet’s identity, he said he didn’t want to know. That it would ruin the site for him.

    So I let him keep his fun.

  • Anonymous says:

    I wouldn’t be as confident of those numbers, Ouimet. Many folks choose to post from home for obvious reasons. I also suspect many commenters are sometime or former employees.

  • Blistering Barnacles says:

    Hello again, Ouimet, yes it’s the same Barnacles who’s been around your blog since before the lockout ended. I’m a CBC listener, and occasional watcher. I’m glad that through all the mire and invective that I sometimes read here, it’s clear a lot of people care very much about the CBC, and where it is headed. I’ve never worked on the inside of the fence. It’s good to read a bit more than what you officially get from the company so thanks for lobbing these postings over the wall, and providing a place for feedback.
    BB (Mrs!)

  • Ouimet says:

    About 2/3 of my readers are non-CBCers. Nice of you all to stop by.

    One of my resolutions in 2008 is to make this site more accessible to you.

    Barnacles, are you the same guy who has been commenting here for years? I thought you were a CBCer? Didn’t your barnacles get blistered from walking around the building during the lockout?

  • Blistering Barnacles says:

    –I’m going to copy and paste his note here for the non-CBCers, God bless you. I don’t know why you read this blog, it’s sometimes so obscure. —

    Ouimet, I’m in that camp, too, so your posting of Stursberg’s email helped put the post in context. I think there’s quite a few of us out there, who have nothing to do with the CBC, just interested to know about what goes on within the organization. Go figure.

  • Anonymous says:

    Ouimet said…

    11:16 PM Dec 13 Anonymous, you’re right, it doesn’t make much sense. What I’m doing is a very juvenile parody of an email Mr. Stursberg sent everyone on Thursday. Easiest post I ever wrote, I just copied his note and changed some words.

    Thanks for the clarification, Oiumet. Not being there, I would not have had the opportunity to know about the parody.

  • Ouimet says:

    11:16 PM Dec 13 Anonymous, you’re right, it doesn’t make much sense. What I’m doing is a very juvenile parody of an email Mr. Stursberg sent everyone on Thursday. Easiest post I ever wrote, I just copied his note and changed some words.

    Sherry, you’re right. But I couldn’t resist. And you know you were expecting me to do it.

    7:34 AM Dec 15 Anon, you’re brilliant. You want a low-paying job writing for the Tea Makers?

    I’m going to copy and paste his note here for the non-CBCers, God bless you. I don’t know why you read this blog, it’s sometimes so obscure. Sometimes I even make fun of you, the Tea Makers reader, and send you on 2 wild goose chases to Starbucks, with fake coupons and toy recycling bins. I don’t know why you put up with it.

    But I’m glad you do. You make me laugh and you make me think and I would have given this up a long time ago if you weren’t here.

    So happy holidays, for real.

    From: Richard Stursberg
    To: Net Pub Eng
    Subject: Do You Feel It?
    =====================================
    To all English Services staff: The following is for your information. This is also being distributed via iNews. Please pass this to any of your colleagues who are not on our electronic messaging systems.
    =====================================

    December 13, 2007

    Do You Feel It?

    I feel it.

    I feel the change.

    Everywhere I look things are getting better.

    Check out Radio’™s most recent performance: the best share since measurement began.

    Our studios are full and we have more productions being made inside the Toronto Broadcasting Centre than in the last 10 years.

    Utilization of our plant is up 80%.

    TV’™s performance is getting much stronger:
    · Lots of great new shows; and
    · Old shows performing better.

    Believe it or not, TV’™s prime-time share last week was the same as Global’™s.

    Our all-Canadian prime time schedule performed as well as their all-American one.

    And even the press – always the last to know – has noticed.

    Last year, on average only 20% of coverage was positive; so far this year, it’™s more than doubled to about 50%.

    We seem actually to be on a roll.

    I congratulate you all.

    And you should congratulate yourselves.

    It was a good year. Next year should be better still.

    Well done. Happy Holidays.

    Richard Stursberg
    Executive Vice-President
    CBC English Services

  • Anonymous says:

    Farewell and Happy Holidays

    As the holiday season draws near, so too does the end of my tenure as President (who says there’™s no Santa).

    These last years have been amongst the most rewarding of my career, not to mention the end of many other careers.

    I truly believe that Hubert T. Lacroix is inheriting a national public broadcaster that is in full stride. Too bad it has no idea where to run.

    A number of you have asked what’™s next for me. My wife and I have plans to head overseas ’“ without any real plan or schedule ’“ which should make the trip much like my tenure at CBC.

    For now, that’™s the only plan in sight. Do what you always do and just figure it out for yourself. Thanks again and I will miss you all. You’™re the best group of people I ever locked out. Over and over and over again.

  • Anonymous says:

    I thought it sounded like Stursberg was writing Jian’s cold openers.

  • Sherry says:

    Like shooting fish in a barrel.

  • Cranky P. Ants says:

    This is the power of electric radio management DNA now coursing through one’s veins. Pure poetry. I weep.

  • Anonymous says:

    I don’t get this post at all.

    The problem with measuring the relative amount of negative and positive opinions on the blog is that the sample is self selecting.

    In a lot of ways, what is said here is no more useful than the instant opinion samples of on-line opinion polls. And I include my own views.

    But I still like reading this blog because it gives me an insight into how various people view the corporation; and how a few thoughtful (Allan is most definitely excluded from this group) people want to see the CBC become a better organization.

    I admit to a certain amount of ambivalence on the question of whether the CBC can regain its former prominence in Canadian culture.

    I worked at the CBC for twenty years in television and radio news and current affairs.

    I was proud to be a contributor to the public service mandate of the corporation.

    But I think the CBC lost its way somewhere in the 1990’s.

    Now, the CBC must contend with the fact that that a lot of what it used to do has effectively been outsourced to private broadcasters by the CRTC.

    More importantly, the CBC has lost its dominance in the realm of news and current affairs.

    The long tenure of Peter Mansbridge as anchor of CBC News has not carried the blessing of the endorsment of the public.

    This is a far cry from what the CBC used to enjoy under the anchorship of Knowlton Nash.

    Therefore, I think the first step toward restoring the CBC to its former prominence is to replace Mansbridge and to move The National either to 11pm or to compete with Kevin Newman at 5:30pm.

    Unless these changes are made, CBC news will continue its relentless and unfortunate slide to irelevance.

  • Enik says:

    Gee, what is Ricky smoking in that corner office of his? “I am the egg man, I am the walrus. Coo coo ca choo.”

    I think this too should be read by a child and posted on YouTube.

    Do I feel it? Yes I do. Between this and the lovechat between George and Jian, I believe it’s indigestion.

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