Little George, happy at last

georgeCBC finds a place where George can do less harm.

On the radio.
Making introductions for other people who have actual creative talent.

Expect The Mooseman to transport you to deep emotional (and dare we say philosophical) soundscapes where you’ll never want to go again.

32 Comments

  • Anony-nony says:

    It’™s a Bachman hand off to Stroumboulopoulous, and then the few listeners left fall into a drunken stupor until their clock radios with their single setting of last-station-played wake them up in the early morning host Bob Mackowycz takes over the R2 Morning mic.

    There’™s the target: Mackowycz in the morning. Strombou is just a lead-in.

    The Ceeb even tries to lessen the blow on the eminent soprano and Tempo voice-follower Nesrallah by saying ’œSo Shift will run from 1pm to 3:30 Monday to Friday. This means a shorter version of Tempo, which will now air from 9am to 1 pm. (Tom’™s first hour on Shift will feature classical music though, so the music at that time stays the same.)’
    But see the comments on the changes at http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/programs/r2morning/2009/11/06/news_flash.html where one of 76 comments is : ’¦’Bob Mackowitz is more interested in himself than in music and I already tire of his voice and anecdotes.’

    Meanwhile the George non-fans get their kicks in at http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/programs/strombo/2009/11/08/strombo_launch.html

  • cbc ottawa says:

    “George employs producer within CBC to edit and produce the show”

    So if George can out source his basement studio project and has no need of lowly CBC tech types why not outsource the producer too?

  • poongirl says:

    Well, why do you think Rick Mercer’s ratinf are so much better than ? Is it the fact that he only has a once a week show and has way more time to work on it then a show everyday (well Mon to Thurs) to work on ?

  • cbc ottawa says:

    Do I understand this correctly? George will be generating four hours of programming for Radio 2 from his basement studio? Why not close every technical facility down and fire every technically competent professional and replace the entire f@#kin’ CBC with YouTube clips and pod casts! Where the hell is our union? Where the hell is the Corp going?

    • Anony-nony says:

      Well the lead-in to the George show is like that. Randy Bachman’s “Vinyl Tap” has Bachman in a studio (Victoria now) giving the extros and intros while the producer finds the timings and uses the CBC library for the cuts, unless it is an ‘exclusive’ that only Bachman has. The show is assembled, a wire recording is made ( ;-) ) and then flown in the CBC’s DC-8 to Toronto for playing along the network.

      Working out of home studios by the *stars* is old hat. It is the rights issue that kills them every time. Do they have broadcast rights? Is their version ‘clean’

      The CeeB has more-than-desimated itself. And we are saddened by that.

    • Casual observer says:

      “where the hell is the corp going?

      The basement.

    • rec beach says:

      George employs producer within CBC to edit and produce the show. Don’t kid yourself that all radio shows have a staff of over 3 people.

  • poongirl says:

    To answer your comment Anon 2;19 I don’t know.

    This site is kind of like an I hate George site, I do not think he is THAT bad. He is smart and he does good interviews. I just find the show scattered. And, it seems like noone else in Canada cares about it.

  • Anonymous says:

    OK, so we’ve basically come to a consensus that The Hour’s numbers are poor-to-fair. We agree on that. From there, the debate is over whether this is OK or not. Some say it holds its own in a competitive time slot, others think its an embarassment. Both sides have made their arguments. Seems like there’s merit in both views.

    Would it be worthwhile to look at the bigger picture now?

    Would The Hour be a better show with a different host? Who?
    Does The Hour serve a larger purpose that makes it worthwhile despite poor-to-fair numbers?
    Do Canadians need – or want – a late night talk show?
    Would a different Canadian late night talk show serve that purpose more ably?

  • anon says:

    CC, how many places must one live to be cultured and have something to offer Canadians?

    • Anonymous says:

      Culture has nothing to do with living in different places, nothing. Culture is a set of beliefs, morals and values that individuals and or groups share. These beliefs are not attached to cities, but rather people. Because George believes that Toronto in the center of the universe, he has no culture. He knows about all things ‘cool’ which is pop culture, not culture. Thus, no one watches outside of Toronto because the vast majority of Canadians cannot stand the Toronto mentality. Mix this with all things too cool and a great love of one’s self, and he has nothing except ego to offer Canadians.

      • anon says:

        That’s all very subjective – it might explain why you don’t watch, but otherwise it doesn’t really hold up. For what it’s worth, I disagree with your premise. From what I’ve seen, George doesn’t make his show Toronto-centric. He talks a lot about the various regions of Canada, both in current events and his personal experience. The only thing Toronto-centric about it is it broadcasts out of Toronto, and I don’t think you can fault him for that. The show’s gotta shoot somewhere.

  • Anonymous says:

    The biggest competition for eyeballs at 11PM is the CTV National News, not the other talk shows. The CBC lets CTV wipe the floor with The Hour because it would be too much of a black eye to put the National up against it.

  • poongirl says:

    true
    and colbert and daily show have about 30-60 writers as george has 3 or 4 and a lower production budget
    i guess people are just being unfair to george for the reason of not liking him
    he beats out conan which is impressive

  • Anonymous says:

    ratings are meaningless if you don’t know context. so here’s some context. typical week — Toronto ratings only. This was on Bill Brioux’s blog on Feb 20…

    Looking at any weeknight numbers (Thurs., Feb. 12, for example). Here is how the talk/comedy shows stack up in the greater Toronto market (2+ overnight audience estimates, BBM/NMR data):
    The Daily Show (CFTO, 12:05) 104,000
    The Colbert Report (CFTO, 12:35) 63,000
    The Tonight Show (CKVR, 11:35) 38,000
    Late Show with David Letterman (OMNI1, 11:35) 31,000
    The Hour (CBLT, 11 p.m.): 27,000
    Conan O’Brien (CKVR, 12:37) 16,000
    Jimmy Kimmel Live (CITY, 12:05) 2,000

    Okay? So George doesn’t knock them dead, but it’s not like his ratings are dramatically off from Letterman or Tonight — and he beats some shows.

    it’s idiotic to point at the numbers like somehow getting “100 000 in a late night slot” is a major scandale. It’s in the neighbourhood. stop making things out to be worse than they are to justify your biases.

    • CC says:

      1. There’™s a big difference between being on at 11 and being on at 12 or 12:30 like a number of the shows you’™ve listed. The Hour also has The National as a lead in, and I would bet that a significant percentage of ratings for The Hour come from homes where people have simply left the TV on as they get ready for bed. It would be interesting to see how sharply the ratings drop off 20 or 30 minutes into the show.

      2. Those numbers are for Toronto and that is by far George’™s biggest, and essentially his only, fan base. Toronto has about 15% of the population of Canada but about 30% of George’™s audience is in Toronto. Sprinkled throughout the other 28 million people in Canada are only about 70,000 or so who show up in his ratings on any given night. George is essentially completely ignored and irrelevant outside of the GTA.

      3. It’™s really not believable to think that anyone expected George to have any appeal outside of the GTA. George is an uneducated, uncultured, Toronto DJ who has lived his whole life in Toronto. He has nothing to offer Canadians outside of the GTA. There is no reason why they would watch his show, so it can’™t be a surprise to any knowledgeable observer that they don’™t.

      • Anonymous says:

        well said, I agree completely CC

        • Mimi says:

          I also agree with CC. Strombo is so “Queen & Ossington” & makes no sense anywhere outside the GTA. In fact, most of the the people at the CBC are too “Toronto”. They should get out a little more.

  • poongirl says:

    I can’t beleive he has never had ratings above 200k. I mean, he’s a good enough interview. Why don’t you think people are listening ?

  • Anonymous says:

    Some of the comment refer to a “dip” in his ratings. It’s not dip. He’s never had ratings above 200K. It’s just a crappy show. Anyone who’s flogging a book can be a guest. Same folks we see/hear on every other talk show. Do something interesting!!

  • anon says:

    George’s merits or ratings aside, giving him a radio program shows a terrific lack of imagination by the execs. It’s just boring.

  • Anonymous says:

    So, I’m thinking maybe George shouldn’t get all the blame for his ratings slump.
    Ya think maybe viewers are just turning away from CBC in general because of the new “look at our stars, they have no credibility, but they’re kind of hot” and “we’re going to talk to them about stuff that isn’t news, standing up on the set of the Starship Enterprise because we think you’re too stupid to know the difference” strategy?

    What else accounts for such a dip in the ratings?

  • poongirl says:

    yes it said that the hour sank to 96 000 and that it got 113 000 usually and its highest wass 200 000
    but honestly, that is NOTHING basically every other show gets so much more ratings it is always the show listed on that blog that gets the lowest amount of ratings there is. WOW.

  • Anonymous says:

    96,000 this past week.

  • Anonymous says:

    Intranet will tell ya The Hour generally does 150 – 200,000.

  • Anonymous says:

    96 000 – 150 000 is not actually out of line for what Other shows get regularly. Strombo’s on the low end, but it’s not like Letterman or Stewart are getting 500000 viewers that time of night.

  • poongirl says:

    i talked to a writer he said 150 – 200 000.

    not even breaking 6 figures, wow, where did ou hear that ? I mean, doesnt the news get 800 000 ?

  • Lower says:

    I think that’s way high. I’ve heard it doesn’t break 6 figures, which for a national show with a ton of promotion is brutal.

  • poongirl says:

    Does anyone know his exact ratings, I head only 200 thousand on a good day. Very
    bad considering his guests and promotions he gets.

  • umm says:

    …underrated meaning getting poor ratings considering the resources spent to foist this pseudo-intellectual on taxpayers.

  • umm says:

    Why? Isn’t one underrated, poorly hosted show enough?

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