Down last night to the Toronto Broadcast Centre where Ideas, the CBC Radio program, was marking its fiftieth anniversary. It being Ideas, their idea of a birthday party was a panel discussion on "Famine, Shelter, and War in the next fifty years," followed by cake in the lobby. Mind you, these were some smart people, and it was fun to watch how they fielded impossible questions on zero notice. It will be broadcast.
More on the history of Ideas, launched in 1966 by the west coast poet Phyllis Webb, here. And the October broadcast sked here. As was noted last night, hour-long radio in a world of seven-second sound bites.... it's something.
The first time I pitched a program to Ideas (closer to 1966 than 2015), the executive producer said, "We did a program with Canadian historians a couple of years ago. Is there anything new to cover?' I like think that over the years I played a part in helping to change that. A program on the death of D'Arcy McGee ran earlier this week.
