CBC Radio 3

CBC Radio 3

Broadcast area	Worldwide on the Internet Canada & Contiguous United States on Sirius Satellite Radio
Frequency	SIRIUS 94
Programming
Format	Canadian indie music
Ownership
Owner	Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
History
First air date	2000 on the Internet 1 December 2005 on Sirius
Links
Website	radio3.cbc.ca

CBC Radio 3 consists of three major parts all devoted to Canadian arts and music: a Sirius Satellite Radio station (channel 94), a weekly podcast from the CBC Radio 3 website, and streaming audio on the same website.

The terrestrial network CBC Radio Two also simulcasts the satellite network on Saturday and Sunday nights, although as a result of recent programming changes on Radio Two, the last such simulcast will air on March 17, 2007, after which Radio 3 will become exclusive to the satellite radio and Internet platforms.

The satellite network does air some music by international artists in its playlist (international artists currently in rotation on the network include Sufjan Stevens, Bright Eyes, Okkervil River, Yo La Tengo and Cansei de Ser Sexy), but is primarily Canadian content; the webstream and podcast are 100% Canadian music. The podcast and the CBC Radio One program Fuse also air as programs on the satellite radio channel.

The French equivalent to CBC Radio 3 is Bande à part.

The network plays a relatively freeform mix of indie music, including rock, pop, alternative hip hop, folk, country and electronic music.

An article on Nerve.com, published in October of 2006, called CBC Radio 3 "possibly the world's best radio station" [1].

Origins

Operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Radio 3 had its genesis in a 1997 plan to launch a radio network devoted to youth culture. The network, which would complement CBC Radio One and CBC Radio Two, would build on existing CBC Radio programming such as Nightlines, Brave New Waves and Realtime. Although the original proposal was abandoned, one notable step in the evolution of Radio 3 did take place that year, when Nightlines and Realtime were merged into the new program RadioSonic, cohosted by former Nightlines host David Wisdom and former Realtime host Leora Kornfeld.

A slightly different Radio 3 was launched in 2000 as a converged webcasting project, based in Vancouver with its own servers and managed by CBC Radio. CBC Radio 3 initially launched separate sites 120 Seconds, New Music Canada and Just Concerts. Each provided audio, video and Flash content as media-on-demand streaming for site users. 120 Seconds was a directory of user and artist-created video and documentary projects, New Music Canada was entirely comprised of user-created and uploaded music by Canadian independent pop, rock, electronic and hip hop musicians, and Just Concerts included exclusive recordings of live performances by independent artists, both regular concert performances and Radio 3 studio sessions. Roots Music Canada was later added to the trio of websites, and offered songs uploaded by country and folk musicians.

In late 2002, the group created CBCRadio3.com, a Flash webzine which profiled Canadian music, literature and visual arts, accompanied by a set musical playlist which changed with each "issue". The webzine also served as a portal to the other content sites.

In 2003, RadioSonic, now hosted by Grant Lawrence, was integrated into the Radio 3 project, and was renamed CBC Radio 3 to reflect the change. With new host Alexis Mazurin, the program featured music and performances from the Radio 3 website. CBC Radio 3 won the 2003 Webby Award and People's Voice Award for Best Broadband site.

On June 2, 2005, CBC Radio 3 also launched a weekly podcast, hosted by Grant Lawrence. The hour-long podcast, which now also airs as a program on the satellite radio network, has consistently ranked as the most downloaded Canadian podcast since its launch.

Satellite radio

Satellite radio was approved in Canada by the CRTC on June 18, 2005. Over the next several months, Radio 3 was relaunched as a channel on Sirius Satellite Radio. The main CBC Radio 3 site was shut down for part of 2005 to facilitate the relaunch, although the podcast, the media-on-demand subsites and the Saturday night Radio Two program remained active.

The satellite radio service launched on December 3, 2005, at which time the weekend program on CBC Radio Two became a live simulcast of the satellite radio service. The main CBC Radio 3 website relaunched a few days earlier, now featuring a collaborative music blog and an Icecast stream of Canadian music.

The network's primary studio is located in Vancouver, although some programming originates from Toronto as well. Alexis Mazurin, the original host of CBC Radio 3 in its radio show format, died in October of 2005, and the main Vancouver studio was named the Alexis Mazurin Studio in his memory.

Regular hosts include Grant Lawrence, Lisa Christiansen, Jay Ferguson, Craig Norris, Tariq Hussain, Lauren Burrows and Chris Murphy, and Canadian musicians also sometimes appear as guest hosts — recent examples include Joel Plaskett, Carolyn Mark and Nirmala Basnayake. Some personalities, including Jennifer Van Evra, Chris Kelly and Bande à part's Yuani Fragata, also contribute to Radio 3 as band interviewers, but not as regular hosts.

Most music playlisted on CBC Radio Three comes from the New Music Canada site while all music played on the podcast must first be uploaded by the artist to the New Music Canada site. Radio 3 also publishes its playlist online. In August of 2006, Radio 3 launched its own weekly chart show, The R3-30.

Currently, the service's terrestrial airing on CBC Radio Two consists of a live simulcast from 7:30 to midnight Eastern time on Saturday evenings, a non-simulcast of The R3-30 from midnight to 3 a.m. Sunday morning, and a non-simulcast of the CBC Radio 3 podcast from 3 to 4 a.m. This may also vary on occasion — for instance, on the night of October 21, 2006, the simulcast programming was a live concert which ended at 1 a.m. Eastern time; The R3-30 consequently aired at 1 a.m. and the podcast was not aired on Radio Two at all. The network also simulcasts on Radio Two from midnight to 4 a.m. on Monday mornings.

On December 25, 2006, CBC Radio 3 had its first annual Bucky Awards. The Bucky Awards is an awards celebration to promote independent Canadian music, and is fully controlled by the fans of CBC Radio 3, the fans decide who wins the awards in each category. [2]

On January 17, 2007, the CBC announced that as of March, CBC Radio Two will no longer air the Radio 3 simulcast. CBC Radio 3 has announced that on March 17, the night of its final simulcast on Radio Two, Christine Fellows and John K. Samson will perform live in the network's studio. As a result of the change, on February 26, 2007, CBC Radio 3 created two new podcasts to compliment the original CBC Radio 3 podcast, the podcasts include a weekly New Music Canada Track of the Day compilation and an hour long R3-30 podcast, along with a new internet streaming program titled CBC Radio 3 Sessions which features performances by artists at the CBC Radio 3 studio. [3]

Podcast

Unlike Bande à part, which has produced a number of special short run podcasts in addition to its regular weekly music podcast, Radio 3 only produced its main music podcast through 2006. In March of 2007, the network will add a number of new podcasts, including an abridged version of The R3-30, a daily New Music Canada Track of the Day and a live CBC Radio 3 Studio Sessions podcast.

Concerts

In addition to the on-air studio sessions, the network also regularly sponsors public concerts in music venues.

The Connect the Dots Tour in 2004 featured a different lineup of bands in each city, including P:ano, Ninja High School, The Russian Futurists, Young and Sexy, The Unicorns, The Super Friendz, Lederhosen Lucil, Dragon Fli Empire and controller.controller.

Tour Tournée in the winter of 2006, jointly sponsored by CBC Radio 3 and Bande à part, included bands such as Wintersleep, Two Hours Traffic, Konflit DramatiK, Hexes and Ohs, Great Aunt Ida, Shout Out Out Out Out, Novillero, Les Breastfeeders, SS Cardiacs, Les Dale Hawerchuk, Pony Up! and The Deadly Snakes. Each of the eight locations had a different lineup of predominantly local bands, and at least one francophone band performed at each venue. On October 1, 2006, Radio 3 and Bande à part again jointly sponsored See Vous Play, a show in Toronto featuring Les Breastfeeders, Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton, Les Trois Accords and The Joel Plaskett Emergency.

Also in October, the network was a sponsor of the Exclaim! Mint Road Show, a cross-Canada tour featuring The New Pornographers, Immaculate Machine and Novillero to celebrate the 15^th birthdays of Exclaim!, a Canadian music magazine, and Mint Records, a Vancouver independent record label.

Programming

Each host appears in between five to eight program blocks during the week, which may be either live, prerecorded or a repeat of an earlier broadcast. The network also has three program blocks on weekends set aside for guest hosts, who may be musicians or broadcasters not regularly associated with the network. During the overnight hours, an unhosted music mix airs. The podcast, The R3-30 and the CBC Radio One program Fuse also air on the network.

During hosted blocks, content may include band interviews, recorded music, live in-studio performances or remote broadcasts from concert venues. In addition to extended band interviews, the network also airs a number of shorter interstitial one to three-minute features profiling bands and musicians through humour:

• The Canadian Dictionary, where a musician provides a definition of a Canadian colloquialism,
• 90-Second Egg, a series of questions about a musician's favourite things,
• Stand By Your Van, where a musician relates a story of something that happened to them on tour,
• Occupational Hazard, where a musician talks about the worst job they ever had,
• Ask Shane, advice from musician Shane Nelken of The Awkward Stage,
• Dudes Where's My Tour Diary?, an audio tour diary filed by Calgary band The Dudes,
• Gearheads, where a musician talks about their instruments or other musical gear,
• Then and Now, two songs from a band's discography, one early and one recent, are contrasted to show how the band has evolved and changed,
• Lisa Retort, where Lisa Christiansen discusses an issue or two that is currently on the news, such as Britney Spears shaving her head.

CBC Radio 3 Hosts

• Lauren Burrows
• Lisa Christiansen
• Jay Ferguson - currently on hiatus due to touring with Sloan
• Tariq Hussain
• Grant Lawrence
• Alexis Mazurin - former host of CBC Radio 3, died in 2005
• Craig Norris

Albums

Several compilation albums featuring CBC Radio 3 artists and live performances have also been released:

• New Music Canada, Vol. 1 (2004)
• CBC Radio 3 Sessions, Vol. 1 (2004)
• Mint Records Presents the CBC Radio 3 Sessions (2006)

See also

• The Verge, a similar network on the XM Satellite Radio platform,
• Triple J, the Australian equivalent to R3,
• BBC 6 Music, the UK equivalent to R3.

External links

• CBC Radio 3
• CBC Radio 3 Magazine Archive
• Bouncing off the satellites, Nerve.com, October 10, 2006
• Past CBC Radio 3 podcast archive

Related Video

• George Stroumboulopoulos visits the Radio Three team, CBC News: The Hour, 1 December 2005.
• Behind the Scenes at CBC Radio 3, Inside the CBC, 30 January 2007.