Talk programs figure in the schedules of most private radio stations, but the amount of talk has varied from station to station over time. This shuffling has been especially active since the 1980s as AM and FM stations have competed for increasingly fragmented listener segments; AM has struggled to regain profitability, and radio overall has tried to fend off competition from other media. Talk programs sometimes form part of the programming mix of stations specializing in music. There are also all-talk/news stations in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and other major cities.

Origins

  Older forms of spoken-word programs conditioned Canadian radio listeners to expect an emphasis on information and education. In the face of frequent format change by private radio, the CBC has been the most consistent source of spoken-word programs. The CBC provides a varied schedule of music, drama, news, interviews, and discussions. It has been easier for the CBC to maintain a relatively stable percentage of spoken-word programs than it has been for the private sector because the government-owned CBC has a more constant source of funding than privately owned stations. The CBC has thus had the freedom to broadcast programs that often attract fewer listeners than would be acceptable for private stations, which are dependent on audience size and the resultant advertising revenues.

     In 1937 the CBC appointed a director of talks to develop a series on issues of contemporary public concern, with programs done by experts skilled in speaking on the radio. By 1941 the CBC calculated that it had broadcast approximately 1,250 different speakers. Commentaries by individuals and discussions between several speakers were typical of the forms of talk on the CBC at that time. For listeners tired of serious talk about current affairs, the public network aired talks on other subjects such as consumer information, cooking, and literature.

     Private radio also broadcast a range of spoken-word programs, especially before the 1950s. In the mid-1950s the popularity of disc jockeys and rock and roll began to push recorded music to the forefront. Some stations, then as now, felt that programming based heavily on recorded music was cheaper to produce than news and other spoken-word programs. Talk programs were rejuvenated, however, as technology became better able to provide broadcast-quality reproduction of telephone calls. Borrowing a new talk format popular in the United States, private radio stations in Canada began broadcasting open-line call-in shows in the late 1950s. By the mid- 196os these call-in shows had become a fixture on stations across the country. The programs gave listeners a sense of participation, even though only some wanted to speak on the air and even fewer actually made it on to the air. Unlike the somewhat patronizing one-way lecture or in-studio interviews of experts, open-line shows gave ordinary people a chance to express their opinions. The call-in shows rapidly became a key ratings weapon.

     In Vancouver, radio stations CJOR and CKNW competed for listeners by pitting abrasive open-line host Pat Burns against the equally controversial Jack Webster. Both Burns and Webster considered themselves muckraking reporters rather than mere entertainers. Burns also amused and irritated listeners with his phone-out format. Callers heard him telephone such major figures as former U.S. President Harry S. Truman and grill him about the bombing of Hiroshima. Burns' ambush-style telephone calls raised questions about ethics, but it made for compelling radio. Few Canadian radio talk show hosts then or since have managed to gain the fame of Burns and Webster, but most medium and large markets developed their own local hotline shows with loyal followings. The list of other longtime open-line hosts in Canada includes Rafe Mair, Gilles Proulx, Lucien Jarraud, Lowell Green, John Gilbert, Lorne Harasen, Peter Warren, Roger Delorme, Paul Arcand, and Tom Cherington.

     In addition to the general-subject hotlines, where the topic for discussion changes from show to show, talk series devoted to specific subjects have also been a fixture of Canadian talk radio. In the late 1950s, for example, Montreal broadcaster Reine Charrier pioneered a show about love and sex, broadcasting under the name Madame X. As society became more open about sex, call-in shows became more explicit and hosts no longer felt the need to use pseudonyms. By the late 1990s Vancouver sex therapist Rhona Raskin's call-in show was syndicated on stations across Canada and the United States. Listeners in Canada can also tune in to shows specializing in gardening, computers, personal finance, health, home renovation, sports, car repair, and a wealth of other subjects.

Recent Trends

     In October 1965 the CBC began a coast-to-coast network open-line show, Cross Country Checkup. At first, CBC officials were reluctant to adopt the popular phone-in format because open-line shows already had a reputation for being too sensational. Cross Country Checkup hosts avoided the confrontational style adopted by Burns, Webster, and many of their fellow open-line hosts on the private stations. The live broadcast quickly became a national forum for serious discussion of issues in the public sphere, although it has occasionally allowed lighter discussions about such subjects as favorite books. Hosts over the years have included Betty Shapiro, Eliza­beth Gray, and Rex Murphy. The CBC also produces regional call-in shows in French and English. For CBC listeners in northern Canada, talk programs in native languages feature news, interviews, and phone-ins, an important service, particularly in sparsely populated areas.

     It has become common for politicians to be guests on call-in shows, particularly during election campaigns. Their comments make headlines, as Prime Minister Kim Campbell found out in 1993 when she underestimated the price of milk. Politicians run the risk of being caught in mistakes, but they also gain an opportunity to be on the air unedited. Talk radio has taken on a uniquely Canadian flavor at several crisis points in the nation's history. In 1964, for example, English-language station CHUM in Toronto and French-language station CJMS in Montreal used a bilingual call-in show to discuss the emotionally charged subjects of bilingualism and the growing independence movement in Quebec. In 1990 radio stations in Toronto and Montreal again shared an open-line show on which people discussed the Canadian government's controversial constitutional reforms and the resulting polarization of views between Quebec and the rest of Canada. A station in St. John's, Newfoundland, where the provincial government voted against the reforms, and a station in Vancouver, a part of Canada that usually feels excluded from such debates, shared a similar show.

     The power of talk radio to bring strong opinion to the air­ waves frequently attracts complaints by listeners angered by the opinions expressed or the host's treatment of guests and callers. The federal broadcast regulator, the Canadian Radio­ Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), has guidelines for talk radio. The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, an organization set up by Canada's private broadcasters, uses codes developed by the private broadcasters themselves to judge the validity of complaints. The CRTC guidelines and the private broadcasters' own codes both aim to ensure that broadcasters can continue to air spontaneous, entertaining, and informative forums for differing points of view, as long as those points of view do not convey racist, sex­ ist, inaccurate, or other harmful commentary.

     Satellite and internet technologies have made it easier to expand the broadcast reach of radio, nudging Canadian talk radio beyond the local to a national and international audience. Canadian radio stations have been quick to jump into internet broadcasting without losing sight of the essentially local appeal of much talk radio. Technology has also made it easier and cheaper for Canadian radio stations to carry programs originating outside Canada. Talk shows hosted by Dr. Laura Schlessinger, Dr. Joy Browne, and Mike Siegel are among the American imports heard in recent years on English­ language private stations, alongside programs produced in Canada. The most publicized and controversial talk radio import has been The Howard Stern Show, which was picked up by radio stations in Montreal and Toronto in 1997, immediately attracting high ratings. In 1998 the Montreal station dropped the program amid complaints that Stern pushed talk radio beyond standards acceptable to Canadians, but this did not stop the Toronto station from continuing with the program until 2001.

     Canadian talk radio has exhibited a U.S. influence principally by imitating the basic U.S. format. This is especially true of French radio, which, because of the language barrier, does not import U.S. programs. The durability of Canadian talk radio demonstrates that it succeeds as entertainment, but talk shows of Canadian origin tend to focus on information and not solely entertainment, a reflection to some extent on the CBC's traditional role as a national forum for current affairs.