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Notes from a Garage

With John Gardiner

What’s wrong with local TV; welcoming a new radio station; and on needing warp drive

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Let’s start off this week talking a little about local television. I usually get in trouble when I talk about the media, because I’m usually saying unkind things about it. And this is no exception. I literally grew up with television. Started my life listening to Leaf games on the big old radio. Did get a TV when I was a young guy and our area had its own local station – CKNX in Wingham, a CBC affiliate. And back in that other time, there was some famous TV like Ed Sullivan and Bonanza on CKNX, but there was also a tremendous amount of local programming. There were shows like Circle 8 Ranch, there was a kids’ show, at least one local farm show – there were three local newscasts per day – there was even an after school dance program called Uptight that I managed to appear on. There was indeed quite a bit of local programming back in those days. And…surprise, surprise,,,,it drew a substantial local audience. Over the years, the networks have really pulled back from doing it locally. There has been a massive centralization of the media – likely to increase profits and cash flow when times were good – and it’s also happened in radio and newspapers – and it’s killed the local stations. Local people are far more likely to watch, listen or read when the content is local and features their friends and neighbours – that’s a no-brainer that the large media companies just don’t get. It’s not about flash and pizzazz and sparkles and glimmer – it’s about substance and content. Anyway, Canada’s TV networks are dying, overwhelmed by the new technology. And they should be left to die with the full knowledge that they have killed themselves. If you’re not producing local programming so local people are watching, why would local businesses advertise? So, your revenues dry up and you die. It’s the way of the capitalist world. And you know what would happen if what’s left of local TV died? New grassroots stations relying on local programming would spring to life – and they’d be operated by young, tech savvy people who fully understand the new technology, but also understand the value of keeping it local. And I know the traditional mainstream media doesn’t want to hear it – but you’re finished, boys! And you dug your own grave….

In fact, this week I’d like to officially welcome the newest member of the media in the Wallaceburg area. The Five Amigos are on the air in Wallaceburg – 99.1 – currently playing solid music and I suppose ironing the bugs out before getting into things whole hog. I know most of the guys in the Five Amigos, particularly Greg Hetherington and Gary Patterson, and know them to be good guys with a strong sense of community. I’m really hoping they will help to breathe new life into my adopted community of Wallaceburg. The town has taken a hard hit in recent years and it needs to reposition its economy and perhaps being home to a radio station will help. Anyway, I welcome them to the local media world and wish them well….as long as they keep it local, they should be okay.

NASA has a new rocket they’re testing out these days – apparently the fleet of space shuttles will be permanently grounded next year and the space agency needs something new to get us into space. So, I see this new rocket on TV and it looks a lot like the old rockets. And I’m really hoping there are some bright young people on the planet who are working on some new type of propulsion system for our space vehicles. We’ve got to have something like the warp drive used on Star Trek or we’re never going to get anywhere with this space travel stuff. I mean, I know you’ve gotta crawl before you can walk, but we’ve been crawling for quite a while and it’s time for a little walking. When I was a young guy, we tended to play games about things from the past – cowboys, WWII soldiers, gangsters and police – that type of stuff. I noticed when my son was a young guy – say 25 years ago now – he played with futuristic stuff spurred on by the release of the first series of Star Wars movies. I remember writing in my column back then that I thought this would lead to a generation of young people who’d want to invent the stuff they saw in the science fiction movies. It’s already mostly happened with stuff like computers and cell phones and video phones and some of the other new things we’ve seen recently. But we’ve gotta have space travel and in order for that to work we’ve gotta have a better propulsion system. Come on all you young Einsteins! If you’re so much smarter than we were when we were young, prove it!

Well, there you have it for another week and having fun writing Notes these weeks and no shortage of things to write about…..hope you’re having a good one. Take care and remember….”Hew to the line; let the chips fall where they may.”



John Gardiner is a 25-year-veteran of the community newspaper business, but he is also a prolific writer of moralistic short fiction he refers to as "emotional thoughtscapes" or "adult fables". Samples of his fiction can be found at:

He has also produced a noteworthy piece of humanist philosophy which can be found at: http://www.xs4all.nl/~aboiten/ad502.htm He welcomes comments on his work.