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On the chopping block

Broadcast Date: Dec. 15, 1995

For over 50 years Radio Canada International has been the voice of Canada to listeners around the world. But now that voice will be silenced and over 120 people will lose their jobs. The CBC has announced that RCI will cease operations in March 1996. With the availability of the internet and global satellites, the CBC says shortwave broadcasting isn't the best way to reach people anymore. RCI staff member Wojtek Gwiazda disagrees, offering an impassioned argument on CBC's Midday.

Gwiazda is aghast that Canada would even consider dumping its shortwave service. He points out that 126 nations have some form of shortwave broadcasting, and that it's a cheap, fast and efficient way to reach millions. Listener Julia Murphy, who often works in Mexico, says there's no alternative for Canadians abroad. "I really wanted to hear the news from Canada," she says. "Others are available, but there's no replacement."

On the chopping block

• In the wake of the 1991 cuts, the CBC told the government it could no longer support RCI. After some debate the Department of External Affairs (now Foreign Affairs) agreed to fund RCI.
• Although External Affairs paid the bills, an arms-length relationship remained and RCI was journalistically independent.
• In 1994, the Canadian Senate conducted an inquiry into RCI's funding. Its final report concluded that full funding should be restored to the service, but no one ever followed up on it.

• RCI took on the responsibility of producing programming for the Canadian Forces Network (CFN) in 1992. The CFN studios in Lahr, Germany, had closed as the Canadian Forces withdrew from its base there. Listen to a 1996 clip from the Canadian Forces Network.
• In 1993, RCI added a program for peacekeepers to its European, African and Middle Eastern broadcasts. The following year peacekeepers in Latin America and the Caribbean could also hear the program.

• In 1995, RCI was broadcasting for 232 hours a week in eight languages: English, French, Russian, Ukrainian, Chinese, Arabic, Spanish and Creole.
• A typical RCI segment in a language other than English or French consisted of 10 minutes of live Canadian and international news. Twenty minutes of discussion or commentary on current affairs followed the news.
• English and French broadcasts also included programming from the CBC/Radio-Canada national networks.

• RCI was the smallest shortwave broadcaster in the G-7 nations in 1995. It broadcast to Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and the United States.
• At the time, half of RCI's budget of $16.5 million was supplied by the Department of Foreign Affairs. The other half came from CBC.
• In 1995 CBC President Perrin Beatty said the decision reflected "new fiscal realities." In this additional clip from CBC's As It Happens, Beatty said the CBC's primary responsibility was to Canadians at home.

• Also on that day's As It Happens, shortwave enthusiast Sheldon Harvey said RCI was the least expensive way to reach people outside Canada. He also pointed out that many who depended on RCI lived in places without reliable telephone connections. Shortwave radio was the only medium by which they could gain access to international news.
• Harvie was president of the Canadian International DX Club, a group of shortwave enthusiasts based in Montreal.

On the chopping block

Medium: Television

Program: Midday

Broadcast Date: Dec. 15, 1995

Guest(s): Wojtek Gwiazda, Julia Murphy

Host: Brent Bambury

Duration: 5:57

Last updated:
Dec. 6, 2010