As news of budget cutbacks sank in at the CBC, it was a topic of the day's live radio shows: Morningside, Daybreak, Metro Morning and Radio Noon all covered it. Otherwise it was business as usual: news and current affairs from The National and The Journal, consumer awareness on Marketplace, and modern music on Brave New Waves.
The schedule below shows the day's TV programs as listed in TV Guide, Toronto-Lake Ontario edition, for Dec. 12, 1984. Radio programs were all broadcast nationally except Daybreak, a Montreal-area program, and Radio Noon, an Ontario-only program.
CBC Classics are those CBC programs that have remained in the Canadian memory due to their popularity, quality and sheer longevity.
The CBC in 1984
The summer of 1984 was a busy time for both Canada and the CBC. In July of that year the governing Liberals, led by John Turner, called an election. The CBC covered the campaign and the debates, including the first French-language leaders debate and the first debate on women's issues.
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The 23rd Olympic Games also began that July, and the CBC took viewers to sunny Los Angeles with almost 200 hours of television broadcasting from the Games. The CBC paid $3 million for Olympic broadcasting rights.
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On Sept. 4, 1984, Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservatives won a landslide victory. Eight days later came another historic moment for Canada: the Papal visit. As host broadcaster, the CBC followed Pope John Paul II across the country with 387 cameras and 1,700 microphones.
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Despite these broadcasting triumphs, the end of the year spelled hard times for many at the CBC. Even as Prime Minister Brian Mulroney praised "a strong, vibrant CBC" that was "central to the health of the Canadian broadcasting system," his government cut $75 million from its budget. That meant 1,150 jobs, $10 million less for capital costs, and a demoralized staff and management.
LINKS
Topic from Les Archives de Radio-Canada on the same subject
CBC Classics are those CBC programs that have remained in the Canadian memory due to their popularity, quality and sheer longevity.
