The Current (radio program)
| Genre | current affairs |
|---|---|
| Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country of origin | Canada |
| Language(s) | English |
| Home station | CBC Radio One |
| Hosted by | Anna Maria Tremonti |
| Original release | November 18, 2002[1] |
| Website | http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/ |
The Current is a Canadian current affairs radio program, hosted by investigative reporter Anna Maria Tremonti on CBC Radio One.
Format
It airs weekdays starting at 8:37 a.m. local time and runs until 10 a.m. for most of the year, although during the summer the program airs until 9:30 a.m. and the remaining half hour is filled with a program from the network's schedule of short-run summer programs. The show includes interview sessions and radio documentaries that typically take up a half hour each. However, the final half hour of Thursday has listener correspondence along with short follow up items on various recent featured stories.
Guest hosts
On Fridays during the regular season period, a guest host is used for the broadcast, who is introduced on the preceding Thursday to read listener correspondence with Tremonti. Guest hosts are usually CBC personalities such as Maureen Taylor, Adrienne Arsenault, Nancy Wilson, Erica Johnson, Ian Hanomansing, Piya Chattopadhyay and Anthony Germain, although other Canadian journalists, including Haroon Siddiqui, Jan Wong and David Frum, have also appeared. In 2005, the program also did a one-off joint broadcast with the American radio program Democracy Now!, with Amy Goodman acting as the guest host of The Current. During the summer months of July and August, Tremonti is replaced as host for the entire period with guests.
Season long story themes
In recent years, the series has run a regular season-long arc of stories that deal with a particular theme. The themes that have been explored have included:
- 2007-08 -"Diet for a Hungry Planet": Food and world hunger
- 2008-09 - "Watershed": The politics and issues dealing with water
- 2009-10 - "Work in Progress": labor and employment related issues.
- 2010-11 - "Shift": Population demographics and the changing nature of Canada's population
- 2011-12 - "Gamechangers": People and significant events that had made a noticeable change in the world in some fashion.
- 2012-13 - "Line in The Sand: Dilemmas that Define Us": moral dilemmas.
- 2013-14 - "Project Money": Money and related financial issues
- 2014-15 - "By Design": Design issues such as Industrial and Social
- 2015-16 - "Ripple Effect": Stories of consequences of various decisions and technologies, intended or otherwise.
During the network's summer schedule when The Current is shortened to an hour, these features are rerun as a separate half-hour program.
Humour
Although primarily a serious news program, The Current from 2003 to 2012 began each show with a brief satirical commentary by a character credited only as The Voice. Long thought to be played by a CBC producer, it was revealed in 2008 that The Voice was in fact played by actor Stephen Hart.[2]
The Voice also announced fictional advertisements for the "Ambiguous Party", a fictional political party. A few campaign ads were created and aired for morning show listeners' amusement in which The Voice tried to persuade listeners to vote for the Ambiguous Party. Comparisons are made between the Ambiguous Party (complete and utter fence-sitters on all issues) and the current parties of the day.
Repeat airings
An abbreviated edition of each day's program is repeated at 8 p.m. under the title The Current Review. Prior to 2008, The Review aired a single feature from The Current, alongside one from Sounds Like Canada, under the title Nighttime Review.
The program is also currently repeated at 3 a.m. as part of the CBC Radio Overnight schedule. Although the overnight airing uses the same abbreviated edit as the previous evening's The Current Review, it is titled as The Current.
References
- ^ "10th Anniversary". CBC.ca. Retrieved 2012-09-13.
- ^ Bayens, Stuart P. (December 2, 2008). "cbc's the voice". The Last Link on the Left. Retrieved 2009-05-08.