George Jones and some other classic Country singers pass on

This week country legend George Jones died. Considered by many to be the greatest male country singer of all time (Hank Williams Sr. doesn't count, because he's Hank, and so is Johnny Cash). Starting out as just another hyperactive Honky Tonk and Rockabilly singer (recording a rockabilly single, which he later disowned, under the name Thumper Jones), George Jones sang with a sobbing tenor on the verge of a nervous breakdown that would personify the Hurtin' Song for the Honky Tonks of the 1960's and 70's. He had a more modern style than the older nasal twang of the previous post war generation of Hank, Webb, Ernest and Hank Snow, and having an obvious influence on Buck Owens and Johnny Paycheck in particular. Jones was also able to absorb the new Nashville Sound with it's assembly line approach of syrupy back ground vocals and lush string laden production on the strength of his instantly recognizable voice. In a way he was the male Patsy Cline.

GEORGE JONES ~ "WHITE LIGHTNING";


Of course his county outlaw persona helped keep him from becoming another faceless product, especially since the image was largely real. Jones was not a rebel in the sense of being a bad-ass rebel without a clue, like his friend Johnny Paycheck say. Jones was by all accounts a nice, friendly, down-to-earth guy, but he did like to drink and popped a lot of pills. By the late 1960's his reputation for blowing off gigs by being too drunk or hungover had earned him the nick-name "No Show Jones". On one occasion he had to be carried off stage in a straight jacket after having a bizarre on-stage meltdown in which he stumbled and slurred, insulted the audience, forgot the words to his songs or the names of his band and launched into an extended imitation of Donald Duck.

GEORGE JONES ~ "WALK THROUGH THIS WORLD WITH ME";


He went through a few marriages (of course) including to Tammy Wynette, with whom he would record a number of hit duets. They would continue to do so even after their divorce. All the while he would continue to churn out the hits, always supported by his devoted fans.

GEORGE JONES ~ "SHE THINKS I STILL CARE";


By the 1990's he had quit, or at least cut back on the drinking and was still recording and touring up to a few years ago. He was 81.

GEORGE JONES ~ "HE STOPPED LOVING HER TODAY";


Gordon Stoker ~ Singer with 1950's & 1960's Country, Pop and Gospel vocal group The Jordanaires who sang with Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline, Faron Young, Don Gibson, Jim Reeves, ~ 88

THE JORDINAIRES ~ "SOMETHING WITHIN";


THE JORDINAIRES ~ "GREAT GETTING UP MORNING";


FARON YOUNG & THE JORDINAIRES ~ "THE SHRINE OF ST CECILIA";


Claude King ~ 1950's Country singer with classic hit "Wolverton Mountain" ~ 90

CLAUDE KING ~ "THE COMANCHEROS";


Jack Greene ~ 1960's & 70's Country singer with hits w/ "There Goes My Everything", "Statue of a Fool", "All The Time" ~ 83

JACK GREENE ~ "THERE GOES MY EVERYTHING";


Cal Smith ~ 1950's Country singer ("The Lord Knows I'm Drinking", "Country Bumpkin" ~ 81

CAL SMITH ~ "I TOOK HER FOR A FOOL";




BOB WILLS & TEXAS PLAYBOYS ~ "STAY A LITTLE LONGER";


BOB WILLS & THE TEXAS PLAYBOYS ~ "SITTIN' ON TOP OF THE WORLD";

Two Hundred Year Old Singers Die

This week had the odd distinction of having not one but two totally different singers die who were over one hundred years old.

George Beverly Shea ~ A Canadian/American Gospel singer who sang with The billy Graham Crusdae since the 1950's on and had recorded hundreds of songs.His style, with a deep stately baritone had little to do with the black gospel tradition and showed his formal vocal training. Although he came from a devout christian background Shea did make an attempt to succeed as a secular singer in the 1930's on the popular Fred Allen Radio Show and On "Your Hit Parade", however he soon decided to give up secular music and focus on Gospe lwhich he did from the early 1940's on. He was best known for his work with Billy Graham. He was 104 and was still occasionally active as of few years ago. .

GEORGE BEVERLY SHEA ~ "HE'S GOT THE WHOLE WORLD IN HIS HANDS";


GEORGE BEVERLY SHEA ~ "HOW GREAT THOU ART";


GEORGE BEVERLY SHEA ~ "THE LORDS PRAYER";


Bi Kidude was billed as The World's Oldest Singer although her real age was unknown. Born in Zanzibar about one hundred years ago she was a master of singing styles known as Taarab and Unyago music by the Muslim people of Tanzania. She was still active as of a few years ago.

BI KIDUDE ~ "PAKISTANI";


BI KIDUDE& CULTURAL MUSIC CLUB ~ "KIJITI";

88.1fm UPDATE; Although Not Yet On-Air INDIE 88 Goes For A Signal Upgrade

As some of you may recall, last year the CRTC granted the 88.1fm frequency vacated by the CKLN's meltdown to a new station to be called INDIE 88, an independent group dedicated to Indie and Canadian music. And then...nothing...at least not in public. So what's been going on with that? Well here's a recent update sent out by INDIE 88 a while back;

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"* The Licence is confirmed!! Although the CRTC awarded us the licence, procedures allow for an appeal of the decision to Federal Cabinet. One applicant did appeal the decision, bringing us to a stand-still. Just before Christmas our decision was confirmed. Big collective “Whew!”

* We are starting to build our systems and put together technical plans for the studios, transmitter and antenna. It will take us several months to get all of this organized.

* We applied to the CRTC for approval to increase power- 88.1 coverage is limited due to other users of the frequency. We have negotiated cooperative agreements allowing us to increase power from 875 watts to 4,000 watts. This is a big deal for the station - as licensed our signal will be difficult to pick up in many parts of the City. With higher power we will reach most Toronto homes. You’ll also be able to hear us on car radios throughout the GTA. BUT, the power increase has to be approved by the CRTC.

Once again we need your help. You can help us get approval by sending another letter of support to the CRTC. If you’d like to help out, just reply back with an e-mail and we’ll pass along the details."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A little back ground here; Firstly they don't say what group of entitled jerks actually tried to fight the granting of a license in court (with zero chance of success) but I can think of two possibilities. First there is Moses Znaimer who had also applied for the license and threw a public hissy fit and threatened a lawsuit (which I wrote about here) when they didn't get it. Then there was the CBC who also made a similar threat at the actual CRTC hearings which I was at. I have defended the CBC in the past but there is no excusing such arrogant behavior, assuming it was them.

Now for the more important issue; INDIE 88 originally applied for a signal at approx. 500watts. By comparison CKLN broadcasted at 250 watts, and when I worked there we had done some prepwork to upgrade to 1000 watts. So I was not surprised to hear that INDIE 88 was going for an upgrade, although making an application before even going on-air is a little odd. I guess the extra time left by the court challenge gave INDIE 88 time to kill. INDIE 88's application called for an almost hundred percent increase to 4000 watts. To keep that in perspective CIUT has 15,000 watts, CFNY (AKA The EDGE) has 35,000 watts, Q107 has 40,000 watts, BOOM 97 has 29,000 watts, KISS FM (formerly JACK FM) has 4,700 watts, FLOW has 1,170 watts, CKFG-FM (AKA CARN) has 446, CHRY has 150 watts and PROUD FM has 60 watts. Incidentally CARN and PROUD FM also applied for the 88.1fm signal. So 4,000 watts would make INDIE 88 competitive and allow them to compete with CFNY who are their obvious main competitor as well as enable them to reach the entire GTA with a good signal.



At any rate since I did intervene in support of the original INDIE 88 application with a fairly detailed 12 page submission I figured I might as well fire off another letter if support for the CRTC below; "Being a veteran of the Toronto music and radio scene as a DJ, Journalist and Show Promoter I wrote a letter of support of CIND's initial application and now wish to express my support for the proposed signal increase to 4000 watts. While the Commission's decision to grant a license to a radio station dedicated to an all-independent music station with a commitment to 40% Cancon is certainly a welcome step I am also aware that the current signal is not strong enough to adequately and consistently cover the ever growing Greater Toronto Area. The Independent music scene is not merely restricted to the downtown core but throughout the suburbs and surrounding communities. It is essential to encourage young musicians outside the downtown core with music that goes beyond that offered by the current commercial radio stations. Such a signal is also necessary enable CIND to appeal to advertisers needed to stay profitable. An upgrade capable of reaching not only the downtown core but also the suburbs is essential to enable CIND to meet it's desired mandate.

Furthermore I am aware as the Commission is that the proposal by CIND includes provisions to enable radio stations CHES and CFRH to increase and improve their signals as well along with financial support for these upgrades and would therefore have obvious benefits to the communities as well. This opportunity may not arise in the future and should naturally be taken advantage of. By it's willingness to work with and support these Community Stations I believe that CIND has shown it's willingness to be the "good corporate citizen" that any "Indie" oriented radio station must be in order to build a relationship with it's proposed audience and should be encouraged.

While I recognize that it is unusual for a radio station to ask for a signal upgrade before it has actually gone on the air I believe that the unusual challenges set by the unexpected opening of the 88.1FM frequency and the short deadlines for application made this unavoidable in this case. I have read the Supplementary Brief offered by the Applicant and I believe they have answered the concerns that the Commission may have concerning this issue. I therefore ask the Commission to approve the proposed signal upgrade.

(Signed) Daibhid James

The hearings will be sometime in April. They'll be in Ottawa so I won't be there however but I'll post the CRTC decison when it comes in.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As I allude to in my support letter one of the byproducts of INDIE 88 applications is that it also allowed for signal upgrades for two other stations; CHES and CFRH. This is because they share the 88.1 frequency outside the GTA and therefore INDIE 88 had to get their permission to upgrade their signal since to do so would (or could) interfere with their signals. CHES is a small non-campus Community Station in the small town of Erin west of Toronto, CFRH is a French language community station in Penetanguishene. Both have been trying to get a signal upgrade for a few years now. To do so they would have needed the co-operation of the then holder of the 88.1fm frequency, CKLN. While I was working there back in 2008 there were working out a deal in which both CKLN and CHES and CFRH would be able to mutually support each other in getting signal upgrades for all of them. After the Ryerson Coup seized CKLN in 2009 the new supposedly community based leftist junta in charge of CKLN scuttled those agreements with two community stations in favour of a vague dream of getting a 1000 watt upgrade for themselves. Of course that was delusional since CKLN was at that point already busy being dragged in front of the CRTC hearings and have their license yanked.

Ironically it turned out that CKLN's shutdown was good news for everyone since once INDIE 88 got their application they quickly set to work on an agreement with CHES and CFRH which involved not only license upgrades for the two smaller stations but also INDIE 88 giving a large sum of cash to enable CHES to afford a more powerful broadcast antenna. CFRH has not actually applied for an upgrade yet, although they will probably do so at some point. CHES on the other hand has hit the ground running and applied for a signal upgrade simultaneously with INDIE 88. So I figured I might as well fire off a short support letter for them as well.



See below;

"I am writing in support of CHES FM's application for a signal upgrade. Although I am a resident of Toronto I have many years of experience in Community Radio and am well aware of the importance of such a station to it's local community. I am also aware that CHES has struggled to reach much of it's surrounding area with it's current signal and the requested increase seems both necessary and appropriate to it's mandate. A signal increase which allows CHES to reach the entire area would obviously be of benefit to that community as well as allowing CHES an opportunity to reach potential advertisers. I am also aware of CHES's previous attempts to address this issue were opposed by the now defunct CKLN. Since that station has now been replaced by CIND, a station which shown a greater ability to work with it's neighbors. This has allowed both stations to come to an arrangement which allows both station's to increase their signals for the mutual benefit of both audiences. It would therefore be wise to take advantage of this arrangement and grant both applications and I ask the Commission to do so."
(signed) Daibhid James

Indie Artists Rolling in The Dough

As I've written about elsewhere (namely here) the SUN "News" TV Network (AKA FOX NORTH) has been on a holy war against the artists and musicians who have been getting wealthy off of the sweat of the poor oppressed taxpayers. To the extent of having a some hopelessly obscure indie band and some much honoured (but still obscure) dancer on to ambush them with outraged demands that they return the piddly grant money they got. While of course somehow neglecting to point out the millions of taxpayer subsidies SUN TV gets through it's parent company QMI. I'm sure that's just an oversight. A remarkably persistent oversight. Much like their current demands that the CRTC add SUN TV to the basic cable package and force everyone to pay for right wing propaganda that the public had clearly decided they don't want.



At any rate a new survey shows just how much all those "elitist" musicians have been living the high life. Keep in mind this story came out in the National Post, not The Star or Now Magazine.



"The average Canadian indie artist earns a whopping $7,228 a year playing music, plus some other industry stats Republish Reprint
David Berry | 13/03/05 | Last Updated: 13/03/05 5:08 PM ET

With the Conservative Party in power, it’s never a bad time to justify everything you do in terms of how it helps our Gross Domestic Product, which may have been the inspiration for a new Canadian Independent Music Association study on the economic impacts of independent musicians.

Put together via a survey of over 1,500 artists and company officials, it found that those bearded, vintage-clothed guitarists darkening the doors of independent coffee shops and hole-in-the-wall bars across the country are contributing a whopping $300-million to the economy in 2011 (the year examined), which isn’t exactly strip-mining-Northern-Alberta money, but might be enough to convince Jason Kenney to stop in at Zaphod Beeblebrox next time session ends early. Right?

Anyway, though, nestled in among those many millions are some revealing little facts about what being an independent musician in Canada is like. And man, if Grizzly Bear thought they were living rough, well:

Almost half of the music companies in Canada — that’s everything from record labels to people who rent out gear and the like — are sole proprietorships, meaning that goateed guy with the stringy hair isn’t just a talent scout, he’s also your potential manager, groupie wrangler, accountant and entire publicity arm. They are apparently some total lone wolves, though: a fifth of music businesses have been at it for at least two decades.
Music company employees earn an average of $22,250 a year, which may explain why Cribs never really caught on in Canada. Although at least that shades towards taxable income, since …
The average independent musician earns a stunning $7,228 from playing music, although the report (which is, it could be noted here, done by a representative group whose board is entirely music company owner/employees, not saying/just saying) notes that they “only” spend about 29 hours a week on the pursuit. If they got their slack asses in gear, they could stand to make as much as $9,336 a year, or less than half the average minimum wage. But hey, they’re doing it for love.
They may want to start thinking about retirement at some point, though: the average independent artist in Canada is 39.5 years old. And yes, naturally, 73% of artists are men. They do not indicate whether female artists make two-thirds of what the men do.
Oh, and PS, music company employees work a back-breaking four hours a week more than artists for their 300% raise.
Not that any of this is fighting over a particularly big chunk of pie, since about 60% of the industry earns $50,000 a year or less gross revenue.
And before anyone goes off complaining about Holy F–k getting tour grants again, the report is careful to note that for every $1 they get from federal and provincial governments, they contribute $1.22 to the economy. So there, complain-y small-government uncles across the country.
If your taste for music industry factoids hasn’t been sated, you can download the whole report right here. Let us know if you find anything else interesting, like what Brendan Canning spends on beard grooming products or anything."

THERE! I hope all you greedy mooching musicians out there are satisfied with yourselves! The government may have cut back on all those War of 1812 ads, parades and statues and it's all your fault! And then there's those shiny new jet fighters, helicopters and submarines. How do you expect us to be ready for the invasion of Iran if you are going to insist on taking your little busker show on the road anyway?

Stompin Tom, Reg, The Other Presley and some other early Rockers pass on

Reg Presley was the singer for the British Beat group The Troggs who of did the classic hits "Wild Thing", (a massive hit which has since been covered by Jimi Hendrix, X, The Cult, Runaways, Cheap Trick, Divinyls, um...Sam Kinison and lord knows how many other bands), "I Can't Control Myself" and "Love is All Around". He was 71

THE TROGGS ~ "WILD THING";


THE TROGGS ~ "I CAN'T CONTROL MYSELF";


George Shadow Morton ~ Songwriter and Producer with 1960's Girl Group The Shangri-La's with classic hits "The Leader of The Pack" & "(Remember) Walking in the Sand" and later Janis Ian, Vanilla Fudge, Iron Butterfly and The New York Dolls ~ 72

THE SHANGRI-LA'S ~ "THE LEADER OF THE PACK";


VANILLA FUDGE ~ "YOU KEEP ME HANGING ON";


THE NEW YORK DOLLS ~ "PERSONALITY CRISIS";


THE NEW YORK DOLLS ~ "LOOKING FOR A KISS";


Alvin Lee, singer guitarist for Blues Rock super group Ten Years After, best known for their epic performance at Woodstock ~ 68

TEN YEARS AFTER ~ "I'M GOING HOME";


TEN YEARS AFTER ~ "SPOONFUL";


Rick Huxley ~ English bassist with 1960's Beat Band The Dave Clark Five w/ hits like "Glad All Over", "Bits & Pieces" (later covered by Joan Jett), "I Like it Like That", "Catch us if You can" ~ 72

THE DAVE CLARK FIVE ~ "DO YOU LOVE ME" & "GLAD ALL OVER";


THE DAVE CLARK FIVE ~ "BITS AND PIECES";


THE DAVE CLARK FIVE ~ "I LIKE IT LIKE THAT";


Tony Sheridan ~ British 1960's Skiffle and Mersey Beat singer, had The Beatles as his back-up band and did their first recordings ~ 72

TONY SHERIDAN ~ "SHAKE IT SOME MORE";


John Doyle ~ Singer/Guitarist with 1960's Miami Garage Punk band The Evil ~

THE EVIL ~ "FROM A CURBSTONE";


Cecil Womack was one of the Womack Brothers (including Bobby, Harry, Friendly and Curtis) who started out in Cleveland as a Gospel group and were discovered by Sam Cooke who signed them to his S.A.R. Record label in 1961 renamed as The Valentinos. They recorded the original version of "It's All Over Now" which was later covered by The Rolling Stones. After Cooke's death in 1964 S.A.R Records folded and Bobby Womack left the group and married Cooke's widow which created some outrage from Cooke's fans. The remaining brothers kept the band together and signed to Chess Records and recorded a few singles which failed to chart. They then signed to Jubilee Records with no greater success. The Valentinos broke up when Henry Womack was stabbed to death by his girlfriend. The renaming brothers became backup singers for their by no more successful brother Bobby's solo career.

THE VALENTINOS ~ "IT'S ALL OVER NOW";


Deke Richards ~ Songwriter and Producer for Motown. Wrote hits like "Love Child" for The Supremes and produced songs like "I Want You Back" and "ABC" for The Jackson 5 ~ 68

THE SUPREMES ~ "LOVE CHILD";


Virgil Johnson ~ Singer with Doo-Wop group The Velvets ~ 77

Floyd McRae ~ Singer with 1950's Doo-Wop group The Chords who do the original version of the classic hit "Sh-Boom" later covered by The Crewcuts ~ 80

THE CHORDS ~ "SH-BOOM" (recorded in 1980);


THE CREWCUTS ~ "SH-BOOM";


THE VELVETS ~ "MY LOVE";


Bluesman Magic Slim was a cousin of the great Magic Sam, he would go on to record several respected albums for Alligator Records died at 75

MAGIC SLIM & THE TEARDROPS ~ "LET ME LOVE YOU BABY";


And of course Stompin Tom Connors, the legendary Canadian Folk/Country singer died at 77. It's been a little hard for Canadians to explain to Americans exactly what made Stompin Tom such an icon. Or even to come up with a real comparison. Woody Guthrie? Sort of, both were working man's troubadours and champions of a nationalism that was never right wing or racist. Johnny Cash? Both wore black and both were coolly charismatic. But Connors had a goofy sense of humour that Guthrie and Cash would have found undignified. The closest I can come up with is Guthrie as done by Lonnie Donnegan.

STOMPIN TOM CONNORS ~ "BUD THE SPUD";


STOMPIN TOM CONNORS ~ "MARGO'S GOT THE CARGO";


Bob Engemann ~ Singer with 1950's Pop Vocal Group The Letterman w/hits like "Love is A Many Splendored Thing", "When I Fall In Love", "The Way You Look Tonight", "Softly", and covers of pop hits like "You'll Never Walk Alone", "Up Up And Away", "Put Your Head On My Shoulder" and "Walk On By" ~ 76

THE LETTERMEN ~ "LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING";


THE LETTERMEN ~ "WALK ON BY";


Donald Byrd ~ American Be-Bop Jazz trumpet player from the 1950s on. Played with John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk, Eric Dolphy, Jackie MacLean, Gigi Gryce and Art Pepper. He later recorded with his own band for several highly successful albums on Bklue Note Records in the 1970's & 80's. His work has been heavily sampled and used on Hip Hop and Acid Jazz ~ 80

DONALD BYRD ~ "CRISTO REDEMER";


Kenny Ball ~ British Jazz trumpet player who had several hits in the 1960's ~ 82

KENNY BALL ~ "MIDNIGHT IN MOSCOW";


Paul Tanner ~ Big Band trombone player with Glenn Miller who later went on to pioneer the electro-theremin, which he played on Beach Boys records including "Good Vibrations" and thus had a career that spanned the Swing and Psyche eras ~ 95

THE GLENN MILLER ORCH ~ "IN THE MOOD";


THE GLENN MILLER ORCH ~ "I GOT A GAL IN KALAMAZOO";


THE GLENN MILLER ORCH ~ "CHATTANOOGA CHOO CHOO";


THE GELNN MILLER ORCH ~ "SERENADE IN BLUE";


THE BEACH BOYS ~ "GOOD VIBRATIONS";

FOX North Wants Your Money You Moochers!

When we last left our friends over at FOX NORTH, sorry I meant SUN TV News, they were going off the air after loosing their right to broadcast over the air for free (something I wrote about earlier here), and being reduced to the wastelands of cable access. Before that of course they distinguished themselves with their jihad against The CBC for "wasting" tax dollars. And then we had their ambush attacks on bands and arts groups for partaking of the piddly arts grants they can apply for (which I also wrote about here,) while of course somehow forgetting the millions of taxpayer subsidies they themselves get (through their parent company QMI) for their not exactly non-profit Mom & Pop storefront. Unfortunately the CBC didn't forget and gleefully splashed the nasty details on their website. More on that further down. BTW I also wrote about the last days in the SUN TV Bunker here.

You might think that after that kind of public smackdown that the "Principled Conservatives" over at SUN TV might be a little ashamed to march back to the public trough. Boy are you naive. Turns out that to the surprise of nobody SUN TV's anemic rating have flat-lined. Turns out that the "Great Silent Conservative Majority" doesn't actually exist. Or if they do they don't want to pay for the kind of right wing pablum served out by SUN TV. So now this highly profitable multi-media conglomerate desperately needs somebody to ride to their rescue. That would be you. They don't really need you to actually watch their recycled street corner ranting, thank God. No, they just want you to have to pay for it.

SOME FINE SUN NEWS PROGRAMMING THAT WAS SO RACIST THEY HAD TO WITHDRAW AND APOLOGIZE FOR:


(Note; I know this video has now been deleted from Youtube; read why at the bottom of this story, meanwhile here's some more info, and here on Levant's hate filled rant that almost landed him and SUN TV in court)

But back to our rant already in progress.

How you ask, will I have to pay for this drivel? Well SUN TV has an application in front of the CRTC demanding to be put on basic cable. That means that everybody who has cable would be forced to subsidize SUN TV even if you have no desire to ever watch it. Even if you actively despise everything they stand for. Even if you are one of the groups that are routinely attacked as part of SUN TV's ever growing gallery of Strawmen who are intent on destroying capitalism and the family. You know who you are; Muslims, Natives, Gays, Unions, Roma, Artists, Environmentalists, Pacifists, Separatists, Liberals, The NDP, The CBC, University Students and...oh Fuck it... pretty much anyone who doesn't live in Alberta. They may hate you but you have to not only tolerate their right to take to the airwaves to trash you, but you must also actually subsidize them as well. That's the whole point of this exercise.

Do the same Conservatives who have also railed against the same strawmen have any problems with this. Actually at least one does. Take it away, Andrew Coyne from National Post;

A few choice quotes;
"There just aren’t words for this kind of gall. Even by the standards of the cultural sector, it’s breathtaking: proof, yet again, that the only thing you need to succeed in Canadian business is utter shamelessness, coupled with an invincible sense of entitlement to the public’s money. Leave aside its general positioning of itself as the voice for conservative, free-market types, or its constant lectures to others on the need for self-reliance. This is the network that, when it is not talking about itself (sole opposition to the “non-Sun media”) is more or less obsessed with the CBC and its “billion-dollar subsidy.” All forgotten, apparently."

"Well, asking is not quite the word. The network, never shy about self-promotion, seems almost an infomercial for itself these days. Network personalities have been drafted to explain the urgent public necessity of making Sun mandatory carriage, that is of taxing everyone with cable or satellite service. Viewers are directed to a website, where they can send an email to the CRTC in support of its application."

Turns out that when SUN TV applied for it's original license two years ago SUN TV vice pres Kory Teneycke sanctimoniously denied they would never, ever, ever even consider asking for basic carriage coverage.

"Sun, he wrote, “is not, nor has it ever, asked for ‘mandatory carriage’ by cable or satellite companies.” Why, the very idea: “this would be tantamount to a tax on everyone with cable or satellite service.”

SUN TV TALKS ABOUT IT'S FAVORITE SUBJECT, ITSELF:


Yeah well, that was then. Back when they were positive that there was a vast untapped vein of true conservatives just starving for a steady diet of right wing bloviating. Or not. Turns out that SUN TV's ratings were sometime less than 10,000 for the whole country, and that was while they still had the over-the-air signal.

So, remind me again. In a capitalist system what does a corporation do when they do a massive belly-flop like this. Why, they get the taxpayers to bail them out of course. Duh.

Besides it's not like there aren't plenty of other examples of SUN TV hypocrisy are there? Like, say pushing the withdrawing the public partial subsidizing of political parties, because in a free society taxpayers shouldn't be forced to pay for ideas and speech they don't like. Or how about attacking the longstanding union dues structure whereby every member of a union pays dues to that union because you know; Freedom! But when it comes to bailing out the Pravda wing of The Conservative Party? Cough it up you deadbeats.

So that brings us to you, the viewers. Or non-viewers if their ratings are to be believed. If you don't want to have to subsidize SUN TV you have one, and only one last chance to say something now or forever hold your peace. You, Yes You can write a letter to the CRTC and state your opposition. You could also ask to speak at the hearings, but they are going to be held in Gatineau, Quebec on April 23. It is still worth writing a letter though. I have testified at two different CRTC hearings and written support letters for four more, not counting this one. I have always found it to be an easy process and have always felt it was a worthwhile exercise. The CRTC actually does read these things and it does matter. SUN TV knows it too. Ever since they decided to go for the basic cable payday they have spent even more of their air time begging for their handfull of viewers to write support letters to the CRTC, many have. On the other hand many of those who have been the targets of their hateful rhetoric have also taken the time to write letters to the CRTC as well that are considerably less helpfull. Payback's a bitch. At last check there were several thousand submissions on the CRTC site. I haven't the time to read them all so I don't know how they breakdown as a pro vs against ratio but there are plenty of both. I also noticed that singer Holly McNarland fired off her two cents worth. She is not a fan of SUN TV BTW.



So get out your typing finger and go to the CRTC site

Then scroll down a few entries to the part that says;

"23 April 2013 Gatineau, Quebec Applications for mandatory distribution on cable and satellite distribution systems pursuant to section 9(1)(h) of the Broadcasting Act and applications for the licence renewal of independent conventional, pay and specialty television services Deadline for submission of interventions/comments/answers: 20 February 2013
2013-19-1 - 23 April 2013 Correction to the preamble and item 21 Extension of deadline for interventions/comments/answers: 27 February 2013 Extension of deadline for replies: 11 March 2013"

In the second column you will find a heading that says;
"Extension of deadlines 27 February 2013"

And a button that says "Submit". Click on that and follow the instructions. It's just that simple. If some mouth-breathing Red Neck Goober can figure it out so can you. Now go and come up with something pithy. The deadline is February 27. The second deadline of March 11 is for SUN TV to respond in the rather unlikely event that they actually do.

Incidentally just as further incentive here's that list of taxpayer gifts you have already lavished on SUN TV and their parent company QMI;

"Granted to magazine publishers under the Canadian Periodical Fund.

A list of Quebecor properties and the commensurate amount they received from taxpayers for 2010-11, via the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Chez Soi: $487, 735
Cool: $191.136
7 Jours: $327,160
TV Hebdo: $1,157,100
TV Hebdo Teleromans: $8,480
Les idees de ma maison: $376,943
Clin d’oeil: $480,749
Cote Jardins: $33,678
Derniere Heure: $154,966
Echoes Vedettes: $188,704
Le Lundi: $376,018
Moi & Cie: $7,947
Tout simplement Clodine: $99,489
Clodine Hors serie: $4,366

TOTAL $3.7 million."

And keep in mind that's in JUST ONE YEAR!!



UPDATE: Here is the letter I wrote to the CRTC using their website;

"As a long time journalist and Community Radio programmer I am writing in opposition to the application by SUN News for mandatory distribution on cable and satellite distribution systems.

I will not belabor for the Commission the obvious hypocrisy of SUN News' longstanding vocal opposition to extending this very same mandatory distribution to every other Network on the supposed principal that nobody should have to pay for a service they did not use. Or the hypocrisy of SUN News' equally strident opposition of Arts grants, taxpayer subsidies of political parties and compulsory union dues for the same reason. Clearly that was before SUN News utterly failed to reach an audience with their "service" and there are larger issues with this application than the applicant's brazen shamelessness.

My Opposition will focus on five main points;

1. SUN News was granted a license on the promise that they would never ask for Mandatory Distribution.; In 2011 SUN News Vice President wrote in his own newspapers stating that; SUN TV “is not, nor has it ever, asked for ‘mandatory carriage’ by cable or satellite companies.” and “this would be tantamount to a tax on everyone with cable or satellite service.” All they were asking for was that carriers be obliged to make Sun available to those who wanted to order it. Any suggestion that SUN TV would be seeking Mandatory were “lies, half-truths and slander” . Having been granted it's license on the promise of not demanding Mandatory Carriage, SUN News should not now be allowed to sneak such an application through the back door.

2. Lack of interest for programming; Since going on air SUN TV has received consistently dismal ratings. This is in spite of several high profile advertising campaigns and the ability to cross-promote with the national Sun Newspaper chain as well as several talk radio shows hosted by SUN TV hosts. If SUN TV has not been able to generate an audience with all these advantages and resources then it should not be the responsibility of either the Commission or cable subscribers to bail them out.

3. SUN TV does not provide special interest programming; Although SUN TV has described it's programming a "special interest", SUN TV does not qualify as a specialty channel as the term is generally used. Specialty Programming has traditionally been considered as programming that speaks to and comes from small and marginalized communities with little or no access to mainstream media outlets. Past examples have included Campus Based Community Radio, Aboriginal Communities, French language communities outside Quebec, foreign language communities and small isolated rural communities. Another different category has been cable channels dedicated to specific subjects not covered in the mainstream media but of sufficient cultural or educational importance such as Weather Channels, Religious Channels, Children's Programming, Music, Sports, Cooking, Learning etc. I support this tradition, however by no stretch of the imagination can SUN TV be considered in a similar category. SUN TV is a corporate network which considerable resources, they should not need further support. The fact that SUN TV's ratings have actually been lower than most niche specialty channels should not be incentivized.

4. The CRTC does not grant licenses to political parties and unions; While SUN TV bills itself as a "News Network" any perusal of it's programming makes it abundantly clear that SUN News is in fact the propaganda wing of the Conservative Party(s). While in certain European, Latin American and African countries political parties often own their own radio and television stations, this has never been the case in Canada. Nor has the CRTC licensed labour unions. This standard should be adhered to, the experience of nations that have highly politicized airwaves such as The United States, Russia, Italy and Venezuela does not lead to confidence that democracy has been strengthened, that the level of public discourse has improved or that the public has become better educated. In fact the evidence of the examples above shows the opposite is true.

5. SUN News has built up a record of offensive comments and generated a number of complaints far in excess of any "News" station of comparable size. Since beginning it's broadcasting SUN TV has provoked an unprecedented number of complaints from viewers to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council. These complaints have covered such matters as repeated airing of openly racist and Homophobic attacks on Native People, Roma, Muslims, Unions and Gays that would not be aired on other channels. The response to these complaints by SUN TV has been defiant. No person has been dismissed or disciplined as a result of these complaints nor has there been any noticeable change in the hateful tone of the programming, nor is there likely to be. In fact in 2001 the various Sun newspapers withdrew from the various Press Councils in Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and Manitoba calling them "politically correct". The attitude of SUN TV has been equally hostile to any oversight. On July 13, 2004 the CRTC rescinded the license of radio station CHOI-FM in Quebec for repeated broadcasting of offensive content. I am not asking for SUN TV to be taken off the air, however members of the public should not be forced to subsidize programming that is brazenly insulting and offensive to many communities and individuals in Canada.

SUN TV's inability to find an audience is a failure by the applicant to offer a product that a sizable number of Canadians wish to see. It is not a failure of the CRTC to support them. SUN TV should not be incentivized to fail. To do so would set an unwelcome precedent. I ask that this application be rejected. Yours Truly; Yada Yada Yada"

Note; I realize my letter is a little long, but don't let that faze you, most public letters are just one paragraph. I was kind of on a roll. That deadline again is Feb.27 so get to work.



UPDATE; As of the end of March the video of Erzra Levant's jaw-droppingly racist rant against the Gypsie/Roma people has been removed by Youtube due to a bullshit "Copyright" complaint, as have all other attempts by mere citizens to point out how disgustingly racist/homophobic/anti-native/anti-Muslim SUN TV is. This has become a favorite tactic of the sleazy right. Namely shutting down any on-line critique they don't like by filing a bogus "copyright" complaint with Youtube, Facebook, Twitter or Google which they inevitably cave into immediately. These claims would almost certainly not stand up in court where "Fair Use" arguments would be brought due to the obvious newsworthiness and public interest involved. However this would require the person who posted the video (or photos or even quotes) to hire a lawyer and take them to court, which they know most people can't afford. This of course is coming from a media organization which is always screaming for "transparency" from it's enemies like The CBC, Unions, Native Reserves, and any politician they don't like, but anyone expecting any sort of moral consistency from these shameless douche-bags is sadly naive. It's a cowardly, devious, dishonest, bully-boy tactic but it works. You know who else loves this sort of tactic? The sanctimonious left wing activists over at The Ryerson Student Union, The Canadian Federation of Students, CKLN (good riddance) and the Socialist Party of Ontario, one of whose leaders (in fact a former leader of ALL those organizations), Andrew Lehrer, is a past master at this. He in fact did this to a posting on this very blog awhile back over a posting that wasn't even about him, then he sent me a post bragging about it. Corrupt sleazebags are all the same regardless of the ideology they espouse. More on the SUN TV censorship campaign here.

Prof Kitzel's Time Machine Profile; Sturm Group

STURM GROUP ~ "CENTURY HO!";


Sturm Group were a fixture on the Toronto indie scene in the mid to late 1980's. Playing a unique post-punk/industrial fusion influenced by Joy Division, The Fall, Modern Eon, The Kinetic Ideals, Swell Maps, Cabaret Voltaire, Killing Joke and early albums by Clock DVA, Section 25 and New Order.

Formed in 1983 and after recording a cassette only debut they recorded their first proper lp in 1984, a moody self-titled affair similar to Joy Division and the first albums by New Order, Clock DVA and Section 25 on the tiny Green Fuse label which did well on local campus radio. By their second lp, titled "Century Ho!" in 1986 their sound had evolved into a more unique atmosperic cacophony with guitars that sounded like crashing metal, staccatto drumming, occasional washes of saxophone and dark sentorian vocals. "Century Ho!" received good reviews (from Nerve Magazine and The New Musical Express) and got much airplay on campus radio in Toronto and Hamilton ultimately selling a few thousand copies including 500 in the U.K. and earning them a spot on an European compilation album.

STURM GROUP ~ DEBUT CASSETTE;


They gigged heavily including an opening slots for Siousxie & The Banhees, Flipper, Killing Joke and The Cramps/Screaming Blue Messiahs gig at the Concert Hall in 1986 as well as the closing gig at Larry's Hideaway. Notable bands that would open for the Sturms would include Change of Heart, Chalk Circle, The Shadowy Men, A Neon Rome and The Cowboy Junkies.
The Sturms also adopted a more formally gothic all black look to go with the darker sound. However after "Century Ho!" singer Bill Mahoney left the band and was replaced bythe more theatrical Colin "Ceawin" Sitto and they delayed their followup until 1989's "Grind", a less noisy club friendly album for the larger Amok label which also contained their only cover songs; a version of The Rent Boys "Fetish" and a cover of Arthur Brown's "Fire". One of their tracks was included in a European compilation "Perdabo" and another on the soundtrack for "Roadkill".

STURM GROUP ~ "A BETTER MAN";


However sales were disappointing and personal differences lead to the band's breakup in 1989.
All of Strum Group's music is long out of print and was only available on vinyl and cassette, "Century Ho!" is considered an obscure classic of early industrial music (ie. before it turned into disco) and can be found for sale on various online sites and used record stores. To date there have been no cd re-releases or reunions. Of the former members, guitarist Tod Cutler and bassist Walter Sobczak have been involved with sound and production in Toronto. Cutler also played with the now defunct Superhalo while Sobczak was in Raggadeath. There are entries for Sturm Group on Lastfm.com and Jamcanoe.ca but that's about it.

A MUCH MUSIC INTERVIEW CIRCA 1986;


Lineup;
Bill Mahoney ~ Vox
Tod Cutler ~ Guitars & Effects
Walter "Votah" Sobczak ~ Bass
Hugo Von Levetzow ~ Drums
also;
Colin "Ceawin" Sitto ~ Vocals (on Grind)
John Lennard ~ Sax (on Century Ho!)
Brat X ~ Tymp drums
Mike Dent ~ Effects (on Century Ho!)

A "NEW MUSIC" STORY CIRCA 1985 WITH FOOTAGE OF VARIOUS TORONTO BANDS INCLUDING STURM GROUP;