CKNW Editorial
for October 16, 2000

I don’t suppose anyone at CKNW can recall a hullabaloo like the business about Glen Clark. I certainly have never experienced anything quite like it … hundreds of emails, snail mail, faxes and endless stopping on streets and in restaurants by people asking if we’d lost our minds. I would try to explain to people that I have no decision making authority at CKNW and in fact don’t work for CKNW but to no avail. It caught me by surprise as it obviously did the management and one can only wonder what the response would have been had CKNW actually announced that they’d hired Glen Clark instead of it appearing as an item of speculation in Malcolm Parry’s column in the Sun.

I came away with several thoughts. First, I had not realized the depth of dislike there is for Glen Clark and of even more interest, how it crosses party lines. For the NDP are every bit as angry as are members of other parties for the NDP see Clark as the loser of the next election and perhaps the ruination of the party. When I did talk to management after it hit the fan I pointed this out to them … Mr Clark brought no group with him.

Second, I had a profound sorrow for Glen Clark and his family, especially the latter. At this point he hasn’t been charged with any crime much less convicted of one. Yet, in being fair, one must acknowledge that he ran a one man band and cannot now be surprised that he is vilified for his government’s mistakes. It cannot be forgotten that the half billion lost in fastcat ferries was incurred at the same time the health care system was in crisis – where it remains.

Thirdly it made me think how important it is that we at CKNW learn some lessons from this. We are obviously not just another radio station to a very large number of British Columbians. They consider us family. We’ve done some goofy and often hilarious things in the past … we’ve had some interesting personalities to say the least and some delicious public spats. But through all that we are looked upon as something very special … and we still very much are even in the face of CDs, the 500 channel universe and the Internet.

I think it’s time we took stock and did a sort of zero based budgeting on our presentation to the public. I can assure you that we have done that on the Rafe Mair Show although, by coincidence, we were doing this just prior to the Clark debacle.

CKNW is like all families – after awhile you take certain things for granted. That includes relationships. I’m puzzled, for example, that the Glen Clark decision could have been reached without Bill, Philip, John or me knowing about it and offering some advice. Believe it or not, none of us is worried about our jobs … in my case I have a generous pay-out arrangement that makes it unnecessary to worry. But we might have been able to raise some concerns.

I wonder that the newsroom and the talk shows no longer work as teams. Back in the 80s George Garrett and I had a virtual partnership as he would break stories on my show … interviews the talk shows did were constantly and thoroughly monitored and it was considered axiomatic that CKNW often made the news as well as reported it. That could be all or in part my fault.

We used to do some daring programming – one year as the Iron Curtain was falling I broadcast from Moscow – Philip did earthquakes in Russia, oil spills in Alaska and trouble in the Balkans … we always seem to have lots of money for the sports department to cover faraway events like training camps in Sweden but none for the news and talk ends of the business. I don’t list these as complaints but simply as observations of things that seem to have slowly changed over the past ten years.

And don’t make any mistake about it – CKNW is still the place to broadcast. I am often asked why, from time to time, I’m critical of the station that maintains my nice living -– because it is a special radio station that is part of the community and whose actions themselves are newsworthy. I am very proud indeed to be part of CKNW. I believe strongly, however, that if the station is to maintain and strengthen that position it has to take periodic stock of itself … and that one is overdue..

With new ownership and a big, fat mistake staring us right in the face what better time than now for that stocktaking?