CBC reaches out to local audience

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Waterloo Region will be receiving a local news radio station based from a national standpoint. CBC News has launched a new station that will be opening its doors on March 11 on King Street West in downtown Kitchener. The station will be composed of a radio morning show, as well as a new, digital website that will run parallel to the radio coverage.

โ€œThis is part of a very strategic plan for CBC,โ€ explained Sandra Porteous, the deputy-managing director for CBC, Ontario region. โ€œWe are going into underserved audiences and delivering local programming.โ€

The morning show will be hosted by radio veteran Craig Norris who has been involved with other shows with CBC in the past.

โ€œItโ€™s just a way that CBC will be looking forward. Itโ€™s all part of the overarching vision that we have. By 2015, we will be in more regions, even if it is just digitally,โ€ Norris explained.

The morning show will run programming on community-based current affairs to provide the local community with the sense that their news matters.

โ€œCBC is the voice of the nation,โ€ Norris said, explaining that this is why CBC moved to extend coverage to underrepresented regions. โ€œPeople are really excited that they will be able to hear local news stories.โ€

โ€œItโ€™s going to mean that youโ€™ve got programming in Kitchener-Waterloo, specifically targeted to you,โ€ Porteous added. โ€œItโ€™s going to allow us to focus on really putting a magnifying glass on local issues, local perspective.โ€

While the station is specifically aimed to address local concerns, the station has the advantage of running under a national network and therefore local stories could get a national profile.

โ€œCBC has a responsibility, mandated in the 1991 broadcasting act, to represent Canada to Canadians and to each other, to play a role in developing consciousness and identity and speaking the stories,โ€ expressed Herbert Pimlott, a communications professor at Wilfrid Laurier University. โ€œI think itโ€™s a very good idea.โ€

Additionally, the station will run a digital platform โ€“ an interactive website โ€“ unlike any station before. Andrea Bellemare, curator-producer, will lead the online service.

โ€œWhatโ€™s going to be really different, and this is where it gets really innovative, is the launch of radio and digital at the exact same moment,โ€ Porteous expressed.

She explained that one of the aims is to attract a young audience, which they hope to accomplish through a greater online presence.

โ€œPeople your age, they come home and they log into their computer,โ€ said Porteous. โ€œItโ€™s a different direction that our company is trying to reconcile.โ€
Matthew Kang, one of three reporters on the station team, explained that his reasoning behind engaging in this job was because it was something new to try out.

โ€œI had been doing TV at CTV for awhile,โ€ Kang explained. โ€œThe idea of radio and digital was interesting. It just sounded like a brand new idea, a new way of covering the news.โ€

Ultimately, the goal of the station is to focus on the importance of local news. โ€œThere are a lot of stories that havenโ€™t even been told yet,โ€ said Kang. โ€œWe are really going to work hard to reflect Waterloo Region back to itself,โ€ Norris echoed. โ€œThe public component of this is really exciting.โ€

The station also plans to engage in outreach events.

โ€œThere will be a lot of community interaction,โ€ Porteous said. โ€œWe want to hear about our own celebrities, our own politicians, we donโ€™t always want to hear stories from away.โ€


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