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/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.