TORONTO, ONTARIO - Let's accept for the moment part of yesterday's premise that the appropriate way to experience a country is by train. What would we learn about North America by doing so?
In Mexico, we'd learn that we can't experience the country by train. With a few exceptions including tourist trains, long-distance and even corridor passenger rail does not exist. Passenger service was ended in 1997 as the national railway was prepared to be privatized. Bus service, some of it reasonably luxurious, has moved into the market once occupied by rail. So, what we learn about Mexico is that the gap between the rich (traveling by private vehicles and air) and the poor (traveling by bus) is so substantial that the middle-class niche normally occupied by rail is not large enough to justify infrastructure investment in long-distance passenger service in a country that does not have a lot of money to spend on transportation.
In the United States, we'd learn that there is a great deal of variation across the country. In the northeast, traditionally where the most people lived until recent generations and where national lawmakers still live, rail service is actually reasonably useful and modern. Amtrak operates high speed service on the corridor between Boston, Massachusetts and Washington DC. However, even where population density is approaching such levels in the west, state governments have had to step up and fund corridor service on their own. California, Washington, and even Illinois have had to pump state money into creating corridors that have started to rival in ridership the Northeast Corridor which is federally funded. Meanwhile, long-distance service languishes with outdated equipment and little respect from host, freight railways, with on-board service from Amtrak that is uneven at best. First class sleeper service is laughable by international standards. Many cities, including large ones like Phoenix and Las Vegas, have no service at all. Unless one lives in a privileged area (where a state pays for corridor service or the federal government funds service), one is almost on one's own in riding a train, rather like many Americans feel treated by their government in general.
Canada presents a similar but distinct picture. In the main population corridor between Windsor, Ontario and Quebec City, Quebec, service is frequent and reasonably modern with good on-board service. However, it is far from world class, with no high-speed service though operator VIA Rail Canada clearly tries to do the best it can. Long-distance service is infrequent, with several routes (including the solitary transcontinental train and the train to Gaspe, Quebec) only running three times a week, but when it does run, it provides world-class service, not only to sleeping car passengers but in coach for the common person as well. Furthermore, in remote areas where service is needed, service still operates, including remote areas of Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia, in some cases under provincial or even Native administration. Yet, especially in the west, there are major cities, foremost Calgary, with no service at all where people have to turn to other modes. One gets the impression that Canada does not have unlimited resources, but does a good job of reaching all classes of society with what services it does have, where it does have them.
There may be something to the idea that one can learn a lot about a country from its rail system. The differences between Mexico, the United States, and Canada are reflected in what rail service is available in each country, and what it is like to ride them.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Travel: Appropriate Modes
TORONTO, ONTARIO - If there's one thing a scientist or engineer learns that is applicable to life in general (and I would contend there is plenty), it is the concept of scale and magnitude. The Newtonian physics that one learns in high school works just fine until one gets down to the scale of atoms, just like talking about Congressional spending "pork" works just fine in creating a national mood and getting people mad, but rarely leads individuals to actually vote out their own Congressperson who "brought home the bacon."
The same concept of scale can apply to travel. Much has been written over the years about the joys of walking around a neighbourhood or city, including this recent piece in the Christian Science Monitor that started me thinking about the topic again. As someone who likes to explore even cities the size of (at least "old") Toronto by foot, I agree that walking speed offers the best possibility to see what's actually around and interact with people. But, of course, it's not practical to walk all over Canada, or even a smaller country like Switzerland. (Okay, maybe the Vatican, but it's really a city.) Just try walking to the moon!
I would suggest that the best way to explore a city is by foot, the best way to explore a county or parish is by bicycle, the best way to explore a state or province is by car, the best way to explore a country is by train, the best way to explore a continent is by air, and the best way to explore a planet is by spaceship. This idea could be probably be formalized, perhaps by saying that an appropriate mode must be able to take one over the distance involved in one leg taking at least a few hours but less than a day for the averaged-sized entity (cities as large as Los Angeles or Chicago or countries as large as Russia or Canada might take more time), but would take perhaps a dozen trips to really explore what could be seen from that mode thoroughly.
I suppose it's possible to learn something about Las Vegas, Nevada, Chicago, Illinois, or even Ellensburg, Washington by flying over it instead of walking around. But can one surmise the quality of entertainment in Las Vegas, the cuisine of Chicago, or smells and wind of Ellensburg by flying over it? Not without a good deal of imagination, and if one has that great of an imagination, it scarcely seems necessary to travel at all.
There's probably an engineering take on that phenomenon, too--call it the Glitch Quotient, Td/I, where Td is travel distance and I is extent of imagination. At the limit where I approaches infinity (an amazing imagination), the Glitch Quotient goes to zero, and the correct mode of transportation goes to none at all. Just don't ask me the units of measurement for the Glitch quotient.
The same concept of scale can apply to travel. Much has been written over the years about the joys of walking around a neighbourhood or city, including this recent piece in the Christian Science Monitor that started me thinking about the topic again. As someone who likes to explore even cities the size of (at least "old") Toronto by foot, I agree that walking speed offers the best possibility to see what's actually around and interact with people. But, of course, it's not practical to walk all over Canada, or even a smaller country like Switzerland. (Okay, maybe the Vatican, but it's really a city.) Just try walking to the moon!
I would suggest that the best way to explore a city is by foot, the best way to explore a county or parish is by bicycle, the best way to explore a state or province is by car, the best way to explore a country is by train, the best way to explore a continent is by air, and the best way to explore a planet is by spaceship. This idea could be probably be formalized, perhaps by saying that an appropriate mode must be able to take one over the distance involved in one leg taking at least a few hours but less than a day for the averaged-sized entity (cities as large as Los Angeles or Chicago or countries as large as Russia or Canada might take more time), but would take perhaps a dozen trips to really explore what could be seen from that mode thoroughly.
I suppose it's possible to learn something about Las Vegas, Nevada, Chicago, Illinois, or even Ellensburg, Washington by flying over it instead of walking around. But can one surmise the quality of entertainment in Las Vegas, the cuisine of Chicago, or smells and wind of Ellensburg by flying over it? Not without a good deal of imagination, and if one has that great of an imagination, it scarcely seems necessary to travel at all.
There's probably an engineering take on that phenomenon, too--call it the Glitch Quotient, Td/I, where Td is travel distance and I is extent of imagination. At the limit where I approaches infinity (an amazing imagination), the Glitch Quotient goes to zero, and the correct mode of transportation goes to none at all. Just don't ask me the units of measurement for the Glitch quotient.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Media: Forward is Backward
TORONTO, ONTARIO - Today was the official hand-off of the host position on CBC Radio One Toronto's Metro Morning show from Andy Barrie to Matt Galloway. I have little to add to the accolades for Barrie except to say that I agree with virtually all of them. That a deserter from the United States military could go on to be one of Canada's foremost media figures makes for an inspiring story for any immigrant, but what this morning's hand-off show left me with more than the stories of Barrie's or Galloway's lives or how they conducted themselves off-air was the lesson of how the morning show in Toronto has changed in my lifetime.
I wasn't here to hear it, obviously, but the CBC morning show in Toronto in the early 1970's likely varied a lot less from its commercial competitors, at least on the AM dial, than it does now. For one thing, it ran commercials until 1975. I suppose I had read that somewhere, but I had completely forgotten that fact until it came up on the show. In the past 35 years, CBC radio has racked up such a record as a public, commercial-free broadcaster that it seems almost inconceivable that it once aired "spots."
Yet, it was one of the things that dropping commercials allowed the CBC to do that most surprised me. In the show this morning, former CBC manager and director Margaret Lyons pointed out that the time freed up by not airing commercials could be put to use playing music, which had not previously been done on the morning show. Previously, it had all been spoken word, or as we call it today, "Newstalk." The CBC had once sounded more like today's CFRB (er, Newstalk 1010) morning show, or any number of such news-driven talk shows around the continent, than today's Metro Morning.
I've lived through an opposite trend on commercial radio in my life. I distinctly remember the last time I heard an entire song played on KIRO in Seattle. Though I don't recall the date, it must have been about 1985. A guest had canceled on mid-day host Jim French, and to fill the time, he and his producer chose to play Harold Faltermeyer's instrumental song "Axel F" from the "Beverly Hills Cop" movie soundtrack, which was still relatively popular at the time. I never heard a complete song played for the sake of playing music on 710 AM in Seattle again, as it held assiduously to its "Newsradio" format. If I wanted music and news, I had to tune to KOMO AM 1000, which remained a "full-service" radio station until it went to a Talk format in 1995 after years of inching that direction. I lamented the loss of the full-service radio stations on this blog a year ago.
For some reason, I had assumed that CBC Radio One in Toronto, once CBL 740 AM and since 1999 CBLA-FM 99.1, had always been "full-service" in that sense and had never stopped playing music. Instead, music had been gone from morning drive, and was re-introduced to help "re-connect with culture of the city." In the small doses (usually two songs per hour) that do now air on Metro Morning, that's exactly what it does.
So, the CBC saw the power of going forward, better serving their community, by going backward in terms of format, re-introducing music. Maybe there's some hope for the return of full-service radio somewhere by following the same logic--successful in Toronto--elsewhere.
I wasn't here to hear it, obviously, but the CBC morning show in Toronto in the early 1970's likely varied a lot less from its commercial competitors, at least on the AM dial, than it does now. For one thing, it ran commercials until 1975. I suppose I had read that somewhere, but I had completely forgotten that fact until it came up on the show. In the past 35 years, CBC radio has racked up such a record as a public, commercial-free broadcaster that it seems almost inconceivable that it once aired "spots."
Yet, it was one of the things that dropping commercials allowed the CBC to do that most surprised me. In the show this morning, former CBC manager and director Margaret Lyons pointed out that the time freed up by not airing commercials could be put to use playing music, which had not previously been done on the morning show. Previously, it had all been spoken word, or as we call it today, "Newstalk." The CBC had once sounded more like today's CFRB (er, Newstalk 1010) morning show, or any number of such news-driven talk shows around the continent, than today's Metro Morning.
I've lived through an opposite trend on commercial radio in my life. I distinctly remember the last time I heard an entire song played on KIRO in Seattle. Though I don't recall the date, it must have been about 1985. A guest had canceled on mid-day host Jim French, and to fill the time, he and his producer chose to play Harold Faltermeyer's instrumental song "Axel F" from the "Beverly Hills Cop" movie soundtrack, which was still relatively popular at the time. I never heard a complete song played for the sake of playing music on 710 AM in Seattle again, as it held assiduously to its "Newsradio" format. If I wanted music and news, I had to tune to KOMO AM 1000, which remained a "full-service" radio station until it went to a Talk format in 1995 after years of inching that direction. I lamented the loss of the full-service radio stations on this blog a year ago.
For some reason, I had assumed that CBC Radio One in Toronto, once CBL 740 AM and since 1999 CBLA-FM 99.1, had always been "full-service" in that sense and had never stopped playing music. Instead, music had been gone from morning drive, and was re-introduced to help "re-connect with culture of the city." In the small doses (usually two songs per hour) that do now air on Metro Morning, that's exactly what it does.
So, the CBC saw the power of going forward, better serving their community, by going backward in terms of format, re-introducing music. Maybe there's some hope for the return of full-service radio somewhere by following the same logic--successful in Toronto--elsewhere.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Margin Notes: Winter, Celebrations, Birds
Snow fell in what looked like a significant snow storm as viewed from my bedroom window on 22-February-2010
TORONTO, ONTARIO - Winter finally came to visit the Golden Horseshoe of Ontario this week, but despite nearly a week of mostly snowy weather, the total accumulation on the ground has never exceeded four inches, rain showers keep clearing roads and sidewalks, and officially there are only about three weeks of winter left. I think Torontonians are going to make it through the winter in stride!
* * * * * *
I'm not sure that Torontonians would have taken a defeat in today's Olympic men's hockey final in stride. Celebrations broke out almost immediately after Canada defeated the US in overtime, 3-2, for the gold medal today which gave Canada a record 14 gold medals in the winter games. Having lived through local--not national--Super Bowl and World Series victories in New England, I can attest that I heard as many horns blaring for as long a time today as after any of the Patriots Superbowls or even after the Red Sox victory, and not only did people gather downtown at Yonge-Dundas Square, they gathered in neighbourhoods as well, including in my own Bloor West Village near Runnymede station, blocking traffic on Bloor and Runnymede. I haven't seen anything like this since Italy won the World Cup in 2006 and Torontonians of all ethnic backgrounds gathered in Italian neighbourhoods. It makes one wonder what would happen if the Maple Leafs actually won the Stanley Cup again... but I probably won't ever see that.
* * * * * *
A Hairy Woodpecker couple was noted flying around the Humber River near Dundas Street in Toronto, Ontario on 28-February-2010.
Maybe they were getting ready for a celebration, but I was surprised to see a Hairy Woodpecker couple near the Humber River today. It had been months since my last significant wildlife sighting, so it was a real treat that these birds decided to spend time in a tree not more than 30 feet from me today. Of course, maybe they were just curious why I wasn't at home getting ready to watch the hockey game.
* * * * * *
There weren't any doves by the Humber River today, but for the past few weeks, Dove for Men had been giving out free samples in the Skywalk near Union Station in Toronto, and I had collected a fair amount of product. I was actually somewhat disappointed that nobody was out to give out samples yesterday, and then I realized that the auto show was over, and that was probably why they had been there. It would be nice if their William Tell overture-based commercial would disappear now also.
* * * * * *
A different kind of musical connection was on my mind earlier this week when I stumbled onto a recording of Indeep's "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life" from 1982. What struck me is how much the musical style resembles today's rap--it had never occurred to me just how deeply disco influenced rap, a fact that has never been lost to musicologists. I guess I just wasn't paying attention.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Radio Pick: Paying Doctors
TORONTO, ONTARIO - I decided it was time for a shorter weekly radio pick this week. In terms of good story-telling, "How Should Medicare Pay Doctors?" has it all, at least in terms of health care policy--medicine, politics, economics, and lobbyists. Planet Money's David Kestenbaum and Chana Joffe-Walt did the best job I have heard of describing the history behind a current, comparative minor issue in medical pay, and they did it just a six-minute segment that aired on All Things Considered.
Listen to streaming MP3 of All Things Considered "How Should Medicare Pay Doctors?"
Listen to streaming MP3 of All Things Considered "How Should Medicare Pay Doctors?"
Transport: Fun with Reporting Marks
"BRAN" reporting marks, belonging to the Brandon Corporation, were noted in a passing Union Pacific train at Pendleton, Oregon on 29-December-2009
TORONTO, ONTARIO - With freight trains becoming increasingly lengthy in an attempt at efficiency, sometimes waiting at a crossing for a train to pass can be a significant wait. There's something interesting to do as the train passes, though. Look closely at the "reporting marks" on the side of each passing car. Registered with the Association of American Railroads (AAR), they indicate who owns the car, and sometimes can be quite amusing.
All of the following reporting marks are ones I have actually seen in the past five years or so:
- ABOX - Used for certain (plug door) boxcars in a "Railbox" pool owned by the TTX Corporation
- AJAX - Agramericas, Incorporated, not Colgate-Palmolive
- BAR - Bangor & Aaroostook Railway, a defunct railroad in Maine
- BRAN - Brandon Corporation, a freight car leaser
- BS - Birmingham Southern Railroad, an Alabama shortline railroad
- CAGY - Columbus and Greenville Railway, a Mississippi shortline railroad
- CHEX - Equistar Chemicals, not General Mills
- COP - Central of Prineville Railway, an Oregon shortline railroad
- CORP - Central Oregon and Pacific, a regional railroad in California and Oregon
- GRR - Georgetown Railroad, a Texas shortline railroad
- ICE - Iowa, Chicago & Eastern, a regional railroad
- KYLE - Kyle Railroad Company, a shortline railroad in Kansas and Colorado
- MET - Modesto & Empire Traction, a California shortline railroad
- OUCH - Oachita Railroad, an Arkansas shortline railroad
- PAL - Paducah & Louisville Railroad, a Kentucky shortline railroad
- RUT - Rutland Railroad, now part of the Vermont Rail System
- SERA - Sierra Railroad Company, a California shortline railroad
- SLGG - Sidney & Lowe Railroad, now used by Progress Rail Services, a rail car leaser
- TOE - Texas, Oklahoma & Eastern Railroad, a short line
- WE - Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Company, an Ohio shortline
Friday, February 26, 2010
Media: Ratings in Trouble?
TORONTO, ONTARIO - Long-time readers of this blog will be aware that it has tried to follow the implementation of the Arbitron Portable People Meter (PPM) as the new technology to measure radio listenership has been rolled out in the United States in Canada. In the last update, the concerns of an influential program director in San Francisco were explored.
Since then, the PPM has hardly seen clear sailing. Of the 33 markets in the United States where Arbitron has attempted to introduce the devices, only three have been certified by a Media Rating Council audit. It has been outright rejected in 18 markets, including New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Aribtron has successfully gone to court to force the Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) to keep doing PPM encoding on its broadcasts, which the SBS had claimed it no longer needed to do because the PPM wasn't providing it with accurate data. In the middle of all this, Arbitron has changed Chief Executive Officers.
While the failed audits indicate a potential technical problem with the devices (or methodology), others have now opined that the PPM has simply highlighted deeper problems with the whole rating process. A well-known rating consultant, Mike Henry, has been particularly outspoken. As described in Michael Hood's BlatherWatch blog, Henry wants the US to go to the Canadian model, in which the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement is a non-profit organization controlled by the broadcasters. Rather than alienating its customers (both radio stations and advertisers), in Canada, they effectively control the process and thus have input at every stage of the ratings process.
For now, Henry's opinion seems to be in the minority. Unless Arbitron gets its act together, though, both technically and in terms of its relations with both radio stations and advertisers, his views may become mainstream, and there may be a lot of radio people visiting Ottawa to figure out how to structure a new system.
Since then, the PPM has hardly seen clear sailing. Of the 33 markets in the United States where Arbitron has attempted to introduce the devices, only three have been certified by a Media Rating Council audit. It has been outright rejected in 18 markets, including New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Aribtron has successfully gone to court to force the Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) to keep doing PPM encoding on its broadcasts, which the SBS had claimed it no longer needed to do because the PPM wasn't providing it with accurate data. In the middle of all this, Arbitron has changed Chief Executive Officers.
While the failed audits indicate a potential technical problem with the devices (or methodology), others have now opined that the PPM has simply highlighted deeper problems with the whole rating process. A well-known rating consultant, Mike Henry, has been particularly outspoken. As described in Michael Hood's BlatherWatch blog, Henry wants the US to go to the Canadian model, in which the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement is a non-profit organization controlled by the broadcasters. Rather than alienating its customers (both radio stations and advertisers), in Canada, they effectively control the process and thus have input at every stage of the ratings process.
For now, Henry's opinion seems to be in the minority. Unless Arbitron gets its act together, though, both technically and in terms of its relations with both radio stations and advertisers, his views may become mainstream, and there may be a lot of radio people visiting Ottawa to figure out how to structure a new system.
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