It was in 1933 that American Franklin Roosevelt started his series of fireside chats on radio that won him two more elections as president. If Alberta premier Jason Kenney and Corus Entertainment think they can duplicate that record, they are dreaming in technicolour.
Jason Kenney and Corus Entertainment are many years too late if they think that a series of fireside chats on radio could save Jason Kenney’s ass. You can also be assured that the Alberta premier is no recreation of former Alberta premier ‘Bible Bill’ Aberhart, who got his start on radio in the 1930s.
The current show, called Your Province, Your Premier, is scheduled to be aired on Saturday mornings live on Corus’ AM stations in Edmonton and Calgary. The first show aired On Saturday, March 12 to less than rave reviews. Whether there will be a second show, we have no idea.
One of the questions asked about this show is whether it could be considered somewhat one sided? Or, to put it squarely, is it unpaid advertising for premier Jason Kenney?
If you are going to complain to the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) about this free advertising, I should warn you that it might be a waste of time. I banged my head on the door of that agency about Corus Entertainment airing patently biased shows in the last federal election. I was annoyed about the conservative party bias of the broadcaster in the week before election day. The response I got was that the bias had to be consistent throughout the election campaign.
To make that allegation, I would have had to have a recording of every political show and news show on the network for the entire election. I have no idea just who that agency thinks they work for these days but it is obviously not the Canadian public.
Maybe we will get an answer when we see how that commission votes on the takeover of what is left of the Shaw empire in Calgary by the high-flying heirs of the late Ted Rogers.
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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry
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