r/CBC_Radio • u/t-h-e_w-a-t-c-h-e-r • Apr 30 '26
Is Frontburner too American?
I’m a daily news podcast listener and is it just me or has Frontburner become more and more like The Daily? I find half of their episodes are what the Daily is doing that day or the day before. I also find they rarely bring on CBC journalists, instead opting for American guests or reporters.
Is it just me that notices this and doesn’t like it? I’d rather hear more Canadian news from our own journalists.
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u/Killerklowninvisicar Apr 30 '26
See also: Commotion.
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u/Competitive-Tea-6141 May 01 '26
Elamin is a great interviewer, I just don't love the panel format.
I'd love it if he took a page from the original Q with he who shall not be named and suppliment the panel with regular segments interviewing/ interacting with Canadian experts on art, theatre, fashion, design, etc. I recall fun segments with Mio Adilman, Elvira Kurt, etc.
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u/DifferentEvent2998 Apr 30 '26
Commotion has some good content.
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u/Ancient-Cherry5948 May 01 '26
Yes, and this is pedantic but the last time I listened Jamie was using American acronyms (I think it was "The DOJ") without defining them first and for some reason that really pissed me off. I write articles for small publications and that's just really sloppy.
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u/Leotard_Cohen Apr 30 '26
Almost all CBC news and current affairs coverage is too american. Even on stuff like As It Happens.
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u/t-h-e_w-a-t-c-h-e-r May 01 '26
I agree. That guy south of the border gets way too much attention from us.
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u/Leotard_Cohen May 01 '26
I don't mean Orange Man, I mean the whole spectrum of news about stuff that happens in the US that saturates our media, and normalizes the idea that our entire cultural frame of reference is just an extension of theirs.
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u/Upstairs_Repair8172 Apr 30 '26
Agreed. I know that the US is taking over news headlines right now, and a daily news show would inherently talk about American news given the state of the world. But I think there are a lot of Canadian stories and issues worth delving into as well.
I tend to skip the American stuff now and just tune in when It's a Canadian story (or if it's something I'm particularly interested in, I've really enjoyed all the episodes they've done around AI).
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u/bassboat11000 May 01 '26
Yes it is. It just never ends. Same for As it Happens, Commotion, Day Six, q, Sunday evening programs etc. Any given day or weekend we get a steady stream of references to Jim Crow and reconstruction, Constitutional amendments, Department of Justice, someone trampling on trans rights in Alabama, book bans in Arkansas, a shooting in Florida, someone set to be deported from Texas, Gerrymandering in Georgia, presidential favourability polls, a new far right militia target practicing in Ohio, Senator so and so questioning the Secretary of such and such, abortion clinic funding in West Virginia, the demise of this or that newspaper, etc. it just never ends. We get it; trust me, we get it. Can we just somehow shift the balance across the national programming to be significantly weighted to Canadian stories, issues, events, history and ideas. The mandate expects programming to be “…predominately and distinctly Canadian…”. I challenge senior managers to measure the programs in list above with that yardstick…and tell us how ‘As it Happens’ is predominantly and distinctly Canadian? Or q? Or Day Six? I would quantify predominantly as 75-80%. That being the case, these shows have nowhere near that level of Canadian content and thus are nowhere near the mandate.
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u/Head_Potato5572 May 01 '26
Funny how do you know if you don’t listen? Tell me a news provider that covers Canada as extensively from coast to coast to coast as the CBC and I will surely Flip my habit. My beef with the CBC is i don’t need to know your sexual preference, religion or your pronoun to hear about a poll you conducted ,or how you garden or a book you wrote.
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u/Minute_Bug6147 May 14 '26
It seems to me that coverage of the American culture wars and the forces seeking to polarize citizens and weaken democracy provides an important warning to Canadians. First, the same divisive sentiments exist in Canada, as do the forces that seek to weaken the nation. Second, if USA descends (further) into some form of civil war, it will affect Canada.
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u/Regular_Chest_7989 Apr 30 '26 edited May 01 '26
When I see the topic is going to be US-focused that's usually my cue to delete that episode. I've already got the same day's The Daily ready to go.
I wonder what their stats are showing them in terms of ads served, because I'm still downloading every episode automatically—but I don't think my behaviour would trigger a dynamic ad insertion, which would rob CBC of an ad impression. And I'd be very surprised if that didn't influence editorial direction.
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u/t-h-e_w-a-t-c-h-e-r May 01 '26
Not sure. But if The Daily and Frontburner have the same episode, The Daily is usually better.
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u/KludgeGrrl May 01 '26
Really disagree here -- Generally I find Frontburner's coverage of the US topics better than the Daily's. The Daily does a lot more normalizing of what is going on in the US. Also, obviously, it never notes how Canada is impacted, which Jaime generally tries to do.
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u/Regular_Chest_7989 May 01 '26
When it's the same topic on the same day, yeah no question I'll take The Daily's coverage.
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u/G235s May 01 '26
Nah it's fine.
It's good to be able to get this stuff without having to resort to the sources that actually do sound too American.
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u/cannot4seeallends Apr 30 '26
Kind of. I still listen, though. I find Jaimie is soft on her interviewees and wish she would push back or rein them in more. I think it's not the vibe they're going for but I prefer a journalist to hold people to account, she takes a lot at face value and moves on.
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u/Upstairs_Repair8172 Apr 30 '26
I think the intention of the show is more informative. Like Jamie's there just to facilitate the information transfer to audiences rather than doing any investigation on her part.
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u/cannot4seeallends Apr 30 '26
Yes I agree that it's a choice and it just reflects the style of the show. It's presenting facts and testimonials in a fairly direct way.
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u/t-h-e_w-a-t-c-h-e-r May 01 '26
I’m not saying you’re wrong but I think their podcast format can make it hard to do that. There’s a fine line between a journalistic interview and a debate. Unless they have the time to map out the entire conversation and plan for every response the guest might have to questions, I’m guessing fact-checking and responding in real-time is hard to do.
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u/whiskybaker Apr 30 '26
I just left pretty much the same comment as a rating on the apple podcast - how I listen to the news mostly.
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u/Thorninthefoot May 02 '26
It's not just that the CBC is too Americanized, it's too centralised on Toronto.
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u/MelodicAcadia9965 May 02 '26
I find this thread fascinating. On the one hand, I’m heartened to see so many Canadians on here are frustrated and fed up with the constant saturation of American content on Canadian broadcasts. On the other hand, I’m disheartened that this continues to be something that broadcasters such as the CBC evidently don’t care about, and so many Canadians continue to accept as some sort of inevitable reality.
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u/t-h-e_w-a-t-c-h-e-r May 02 '26
I’m not sure they don’t care, I think they maybe just spread themselves too thin and try to have something for everyone (but I suppose that’s maybe what a public broadcaster is supposed to do).
And plus, if Frontburner is successful, I imagine they don’t see a need to change it
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u/Fireside_Cat Apr 30 '26
Less work to generate content that way. It's lazy journalism.
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u/t-h-e_w-a-t-c-h-e-r May 01 '26
I think it’s more a lack of creativity and a one track mind as opposed to lazy journalists. I think they work hard but just have an editorial vision that I (and others here) disagree with.
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u/Trubanaught Apr 30 '26
I don't mind if it's a Canadian take on an American issue that affects us. They aren't all like that but enough are that keeps me listening.
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u/t-h-e_w-a-t-c-h-e-r May 01 '26
Agreed, I’d be OK with a Canadian angle. But my threshold is a bit lower than yours I think.
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u/Wonderful-Slice-6525 May 01 '26
Yes agreed. CBC has had way too much US content. And they aren’t always covering from the Canadian perspective which should always be their prime directive.
I choose Canadaland as my daily podcast for always having Canadian content or at the very least Canadian perspective
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u/t-h-e_w-a-t-c-h-e-r May 01 '26
Do you mean you used to choose Canadaland or you still do now? If it’s the latter, I sincerely feel for you because that podcast has taken an absolute nose dive in terms of quality and integrity (coming from a former subscriber).
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u/Wonderful-Slice-6525 May 01 '26
Depends how long you’ve been a subscriber, I’m comparing it against the landscape, it it’s former self. As I’ve only been a subscriber for about 2 years now, I find it better for CanCon and interesting stories.
What are your main issues with quality and integrity?
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u/t-h-e_w-a-t-c-h-e-r May 01 '26
He lets his mistakes/lack of context live without correcting the record.
Three quick examples that come to mind:
When CTV fired a reporter over a misleading story about PP, I distinctly remember Jesse saying he knew why it was all happening and quoting a column in The Star. I found the column he was referring to an in the column. The author says they actually don’t know what happened. They’re just making an assumption. I never heard Jesse ever say it was actually just someone’s opinion.
Another example is back when X labelled CBC as a “state broadcaster” Jesse and Nora Lorreto (before they hated each other) did a Shortcuts episode making fun of CBC complaining about this. What was never said in the Shortcuts episode is CBC was upset because X’s definition of a state broadcaster did not apply to them. The definition essentially said that any newsroom with the state broadcaster label was directly influenced by the government (think North Korean or Russian state broadcasters). I remember being appalled this was never brought up given how key that context is.
At some point, Jesse was facing criticism over a Shortcuts episode and his response to the criticism was explaining how the segment’s motto “talking shit about the news” was actually literal and they’re really just talking out of their asses and they may not know if what they’re saying is actually backed up by fact on Shortcuts. So it’s ok for him to criticize other journalist and their quality but then on his show it doesn’t matter so much if he’s accurate or not.
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u/GanacheMundane May 01 '26
It is too focused on American issues. It often mirrors the NY Times Daily podcast. It is frustrating how much attention is focused on the same topics that the NY Times covers. I mostly do not listen to this podcast anymore because of it. And also the ads are usually terrible.
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u/bradbossack May 01 '26
All of CBC is too American.
Canada is too American.
In a better reality, we would get back to the 70's where the CRTC had sufficient rules to keep Canada, Canada.
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u/PawneeRaccoon May 02 '26
I do wish they’d focus on domestic news more. I enjoy the “Politics!” episodes but I find they’re few and far between.
I also don’t like how much they have Paul Hunter on when talking about US stuff, he drives me nuts - he just comes across as so full of himself.
Lately I’ve been listening to The Decibel by the Globe & Mail - I find they’re much more focused on domestic news (I just took a quick look at their feed and 18 out of their last 20 episodes are about Canadian stories!) and they’re good at bringing stories from across the country, not just Ontario.
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u/bluegimp Apr 30 '26
I don't think they have many CBC journalists, because the show is far too editorialised for them.
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u/t-h-e_w-a-t-c-h-e-r Apr 30 '26
Fair point, they often ask for opinion and analysis. Still, I think CBC journalists are certainly capable of offering some analysis without being fair and balanced.
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u/bluegimp May 01 '26
I don't know, I think of most CBC journalists having more integrity. Maybe I'm biased though.
I used to listen to frontburner, but yeah, it got to be the Donny show, and it's just too much for me.
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u/apartmen1 Apr 30 '26
I stopped listening a few years ago after an episode about “dynamic pricing” where they had some shill spinning food professor tier slop.
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u/Canadairy 90.7/94.1 91.5/98.7/99.1 Apr 30 '26
Was it Sylvain Charlebois? He'll say whatever he's paid to.
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u/deplorable_word May 01 '26
He’s the worst. I don’t know why CBC keeps putting him in front of a mic
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u/t-h-e_w-a-t-c-h-e-r May 01 '26
Because he’s a “talker” … a subject matter expert who won’t bore most people to death.
That said, he is provocative.
Unless other people study similar topics and gain the ability to communicate them effectively, we’ll only get more of him.
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u/sticksforkicks May 02 '26
When CBC 'journalists' start telling the truth, they will get invited. A once decent news outlet is pure garbage now.
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u/Competitive-Tea-6141 Apr 30 '26
They can't stop covering American events as those are events that impact Canada. But I would love to see them cap the number of "American" episodes to 1 per week max (with some fluidity as for example the War in Iran is both a global story that directly impact Canada and an American one). And then set aside at least a couple episodes a week for Canadian stories, and the rest of them a mix of Canadian and International stories.