Holiday: CBC Sounds of the Season

Host Matt Galloway and a guest reacted to an ironic sports joke during the taping of CBC Radio One's "Here and Now" during the "Sounds of the Season" on 5-December-2008

TORONTO, ONTARIO - On Friday, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) held its annual Sounds of the Season fundraiser for the Daily Bread Food Bank. Held in the Glenn Gould Studio in CBC's headquarters building on Front Street in downtown Toronto, the event featured live broadcasts of the two long-form, drive-time local Toronto broadcasts (Metro Morning and Here and Now) and the taping of two Saturday programs (Fresh Air and Big City, Small World), all broadcast on Radio One (CBLA 99.1 FM in Toronto).

Despite getting in line well in advance of the door opening for the afternoon drive-time "Here and Now" broadcast, I was not seated until the second hour of the show, but I was still able to enjoy the final two hours of the program. What truly surprised me was that the program was being done completely live--no delay whatsoever as is now common even on supposedly-live broadcasts in the digital era. When I turned on my walkman just to see how the top of the hour national news was being handled, I was surprised to hear in my earbuds exactly what was directly reaching my ears in the 350-seat auditorium.


CBC Newsman Robert Fisher and Traffic Reporter Jim Curran, both broadcast veterans, at the Sounds of the Season broadcast on 5-December-2008

That made the smoothness of the broadcast all the more remarkable. Despite the live audience, despite the substantial number of guests (all music for the three hours was performed live), despite the unfamiliar surroundings, the broadcast was nearly mistake-free. If I hadn't been watching him with my own eyes, I would never have known that host Matt Galloway was not in his normal studio, and the same applies to news anchor Robert Fisher and traffic reporter Jim Curran. I have seen this so many times from the CBC now that I am convinced that they are the best in the world.


Juan Cloran and Blair Williams performed a scene from "It's A Wonderful Life" during the CBC "Sounds of the Season" on 5-December-2008

Many of the normal "Here and Now" features and guests came by during the broadcast, from theatre critic Lynn Slotkin to "News at Six" host Bernie McNamee, but what really made the broadcast were the special features. Probably the most unique segment was the performance of about ten minutes of "It's A Wonderful Life" done by the Canadian Stage Company, a direct throw-back to the early days of radio.


The Barenaked Ladies performed "Green Christmas" and "Jingle Bells" during the broadcast of "Here and Now" during the CBC "Sounds of the Season" on 5-December-2008

The variety of musical genres is diverse on a normal day on "Here and Now", but on this day, the live performances spanned an amazing range. Cuban rapper Telmary was followed by How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? winner Elicia MacKenzie and the cast of the Mirvish production of The Sound of Music. Indo-Canadian singer Bageshree Vaze sang in Hindi while the Barenaked Ladies played games with English--and I've only mentioned half the performers.


Daily Bread Executive Director Gail Nyberg provided Matt Galloway with an update on fund-raising during the "Sounds of the Season" on 5-December-2008

Of course, the purpose of the day was raising money to feed the hungry, and by the end of Here and Now, more than $116,000 and more than 7000 pounds of food had been collected.

The live broadcast of "Here and Now" ended with a sing-a-long of "Deck the Halls". I'll probably never sing with Elicia MacKenzie, the Barenaked Ladies' Steven Page, and Robert Fisher at the same time ever again.