Northern Radio Exposure

For those in the know, I’m a big public radio junkie (although I’ve recently eschewed Frequency Modulation for podcasts) but my tastes have generally been circling the NPR format. I’ll confess to a penchant for some PRI and APM series (“The Splendid Table” or “This American Life,” anyone?) and yet my preferences have always stayed decidedly American. The BBC, while informative has never really done it for me, and Wisconsin and Minnesota, though seemingly foreign, are definitively under the stars and bars.

So it was a pleasant surprise to stumble onto the CBC‘s “As It Happens.” Yes, I inevitably run the risk of sounding like an American schmuck by saying how surprised I was by our Canadian neighbor’s “All Things Considered“-esque news show. Aside from the evening runtime and radio medium it bears very little in common with its south-of-the-border cousin.

First off, it sounds like experimental college radio. The news summary at the op of the show has some psychedelic groovy tuneage. The Hosts have a *unique* delivery style. Carol Off is somewhat conventional but Barbara Budd, see left, has an inflection and wacky delivery style that would make Susan Stamberg blush (Swastika is pronounced Shwah-steek-ahhhh?). Then there’s also the wacky news content … Continued

Last week AIH featured a nice little piece on the Canadian duck-calling champion. OK, I’m on board so far. Quirk is cool right now and I’m buying the story, but then Susan Off asks the guy to play his winning routine (keep in mind I’m wearing headphones) and he goes blasting off. This is not some short routine. It’s two full minutes of piercing duck shrieks interspersed with the briefest of moments filled by more pleasing and normal soft quacks. This show is begging for an SNL parody.

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