CBC / Radio-Canada : Let 1b1, 2b2, 3b3, 4b4 etc.

CBC/RC: Fix damned/damned problem this way: Let circles be circles, let squares be squares.

CBC Radio:

"ONE" returns to AM. (as was forever - lotsa space now, no political problems. Allows rest. See below)

"TWO" returns to being TWO, for real, with properly classical & serious highbrow arts.

ONE's current FM frequency is renamed "THREE", becomes popular/younger centred channel, with Ghomeshi, Terfry, Strombo, The Signal, Arden, Bachman, etc., news on hour and half-hour, and CBC "News at 6" (RC= "bulletin de nouvelles nationales à 17h).

Internet "Three" is renamed "FOUR", stays as is, basically...but CBC/RC fixes its internet services, adds more, better presented, done, run, more podcasts (cf. BBC - can restrict to one week availabilities, if need be). "Bande à part" demeure BaP, somme tout. Can add more satellite-internet channels as needed (RCI, etc.)

Conclusion: 4 & 3 are gateway drugs to 1 to 2, with news on hr and half-hr. CBC for every age.

CBC TV:

Need political will, within CBC, at CRTC and in Government (Hello LPC/NDP!). But same basic idea.

"CBC-TV" becomes "CBC ONE", concentrated on public broadcasting mandate. Foreign content OK, as within that mandate.

"CBC-BOLD" becomes "CBC TWO": CANADIAN eyeball mandate. Tricky part: moved beside CBC One on dial, or at least as low on dial as possible on basic service.  ALL Canadian BUT targeted at maximum eyeballs. Given "new" CBC One will have foreign production but only within public broadcasting mandate. CBC TWO answers other problem/criticism: viewership. So can be crap, but must be Canadian crap..and try to be as popular as possible.

CBC Newsworld / RDI stay as they are. Maybe renamed Three/Trois?

CBC Documentary Channel fine as is, but should try to move as low as possible on dial. (Should be French equivalent too.) Takes pressure off CBC One and CBC NW to be prefect/do all serious work.

Notes: I've meant to write this down for a while, but this seems as good a time as any. Anyway, the Radio thing is easy enough to do, basically - not taking any frequencies away from anyone (no FM space anyway), same shows, basically, but just repackaged, so any private broadcasters' complaints obviously ridiculous. I know CBC hates idea of being on "lesser" AM dial, but was fine there for decades, and remember, the perfect is the enemy of the good. Also beneficial because AM quality means will stop Radio One from giving into lure of adding a bit, and then a bit more, of popular music culture. Stick to talk. Also, if private AM reflect, will realise good for them too, as battle is getting people on AM dial. Radio One audience, having migrated to AM, some will check out the private broadcasters. Automatically increases audience and esteem of AM. Any minor lost countrywide coverage through FM to AM switch made up by gains from CBC Three. But Two rediscovers itself as Two, which private broadcasters can hardly complain about. CBC One switch allows all the rest, means CBC stops trying to square circles. Circles, circles & squares, squares.

Same philosophy applied to TV, as noted. Here the tricky part is getting a CBC administration, and CRTC, and Government, with wisdom and strength to do logical thing. Canada needs Canadian programming, agreed? Everyone, including private sector, says yes (however much privates are lying, that's what they say, and agree to - airwaves publicly owned, couldn't get licenses otherwise, LIKE EVERYWHERE ELSE IN WORLD). But in fact, dearth of Canadian programming on TV. What there is is often under-funded, under-produced, private as well as public. Our public broadcaster is MOST underfunded, relative to rest of world. And we need if MOST, given USA - as noted by Macdonald Commission which wrongheadedly proposed FTA, but was honest and coherent enough to take account of cultural effects.

But CBC TV damned if too eyeball oriented/popular, damned if too serious/unpopular. So as with radio, stop trying to square circles: One does serious, Two does eyeballs. But my fiendishly clever plan is to overcome private objections by making eyeball channel ALL CANADIAN! Since there isn't enough as is, and underfunded, private and public, and self-hating prejudice against possibility that Canadian shows being popular (always refer to successes as "exceptions") and private broadcasters' criticism is supposedly that CBC is not pursuing Canadian content, public broadcasting mandate ('cause the patriots they are, they care so much..), CBC says fine. We'll do one all-Canadian: can't complain about that, can you? And the other, all serious public broadcasting mandate. Can't complain about that either.

The crucial bit is getting CBC BOLD transformed into CBC TWO as low on the dial as possible, and ideally, right beside CBC ONE, AS EVERYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD WITH PUBLIC BROADCASTERS.

Of course, this only really means that CBC, CRTC and GOVERNMENT, would have to back up their words with actions, be the patriotic Canadians they claim they are, stand up for Canada, for Canadian culture, for the national broadcaster, and do what's in the public good, and which, as noted, given privates' own claims and arguments, should not cause any argument. So everyone else has to move a channel over to make space for CBC TWO beside CBC ONE - so what? The public's not going to find CTV and Global one channel over? And you guys said all you wanted was the CBC to be the CBC. Well this is what this plan does. Public broadcasting? Check. Canadian content? Check. Budget justified by eyeballs? Check (if our artists are as good as everyone in the rest of the world thinks they are, which seems a reasonable assumption to make. Hard to believe Canadians are uniquely wise in knowing that all these writers, producers, directors, cameramen, actors, are terrible, and that the rest of the world is wrong to praise them, and watch them.).

Canada. CBC. Radio-Canada.

Own. The. Podium.