The Great Eastern
Meet the creative team

Contributing Perfomers

A word from the webmaster
As the CBC is no longer carrying The Great Eastern, we are removing the archived material and audio clips from the CBC web. The archive may be reconstituted as an independent fan site in the fall if there is enough interest in it, and if I can contrive server space. I can be reached at gporter@mun.ca

Gerry Porter
08.02.99

Yes, Seeker, it is true, The Great Eastern will no 
longer be broadcast by the CBC.

This does not come as a complete surprise. Before the 1997-1998 season CBC management expressed the view that The Great Eastern was “too foreground”, was demanding too much of its audience, and directed the creative team to make the show “more broadly accessible”. We failed to accommodate this request.

No one should be under the misapprehension that the CBC moved the posts. The Radio service’s programming is intended to be benign, a “companion” to the listener. The CBC took a profound risk programming The Great Eastern. In the end CBC felt the show’s content was inappropriate for Saturday mornings. They proposed moving the show to another time slot with a younger but considerably smaller audience.

Then, of course, there’s the money. The CBC greatly reduced the resources it was willing to commit to the show. This would have seen the creative team’s compensation decrease, an abbreviated season with a higher proportion of repeats and lower production values. More attractive professional opportunites presented themselves and we had to reject the offer.

So instead of The Great Eastern you will hear, in our former time slot, an extra 15 minutes of Basic Black and a 15 minute re-broadcast of Thursday’s Dead Dog Café. This decision addresses issues relating to programming philosophy and costs the CBC nothing.

We trust you found the journey enjoyable. It has been one of the most rewarding creative experiences of our lives.

To the lifeboats, Seeker!

We’re staying with the Ship.

Yours in the warmth of coal-fired radio, Steven Palmer   Edward Riche   Mack Furlong Let the CBC know what you think.... cbcinput@toronto.cbc.ca