The photo above doesn't need much explaining these days, as that pillar has to be one of the most reported-on pillars in Toronto, if not in all of Canada. It is of course the pillar in CBC headquarters in downtown Toronto which used to bear testament to the rising star of a certain CBC golden boy radio persona. The self-aggrandising giant shot was summarily scraped off following the termination of said radio star, and the blank space left sort of says it all.
That the blank space speaks volumes is mirrored by the silence of the former golden boy subsequent to his Facebook fiasco, and of the CBC themselves, who have not adequately responded to the landslide of questions/concerns that arose out of their (mis)handling of the entire affair. Is there anyone that is going to stand up and take responsibility for this mess, even if only to imply that there is anything remotely resembling actual leadership at CBC?
It sure doesn't seem to come from Heather Conway, based on her somewhat clueless conversation with Peter Mansbridge, and after watching "The Fifth Estate" last Friday, it certainly doesn't seem to have come from Chris Boyce, head of CBC radio/audio. As much as we can sense his angst over whether they should have gone to the police or not, to report what they saw on a video but were not in possession of, this is not really the point over which many feel let down by CBC.
Totally irrespective of whether the former radio star was guilty of any criminal activity, it was abundantly clear to almost everyone that there was serious dysfunction rampant in Studio Q, and by their inaction, incompetence and lack of desire to reel him in, the CBC effectively sanctioned that dysfunction. In what contemporary workplace could a male superior be able to state that he wanted to "hate f**k" a female subordinate, or actually hump her from behind in mimicry of what he must have wanted to do to her?
For anyone to imply that such behaviour is both quite common yet difficult to police or discipline is completely ridiculous - only an outfit with an excuse for a human resources department could have turned a blind eye. But yes, I can hear you all stating that abuse by superiors is extremely common in the workplace, and when someone is powerful (and in this case, famous too) enough then the rules do not apparently apply to them. This certainly seems to have been the case, and the former radio star was so high profile that not only the subordinates were running scared, but so were upper management at CBC.
The key question is why, and it's not so complicated. Sadly. The key to this situation was not only that the radio star (as he then still was) was a major brand in and of himself, one adored by all, but that it was CBC themselves who had constructed this brand from the ground up; the corporation needed a big star golden boy and so they built one, using a template that was very carefully selected. He didn't disappoint, either.
It was a very symbiotic relationship; one where both parties got a big return from their investment with the other. After having built his brand, and benefiting enormously not only from syndication of the Q radio show, but also from all the free publicity that the former radio star was bringing them, CBC were not going to let some "idiosyncrasies" get in the way of business-as-usual.
It was an error of spectacular proportions and one that would ultimately cost both partners in that symbiotic relationship - heavily. As his star rose, so did the problem become a bigger one, even if that was not apparent at the time. The former radio star, perhaps sensing that he had become too powerful in the corridors of the Front Street HQ to be questioned, actually let it go further to his head and continued with his (not so) merry ways.
But there was a ticking going on in the background, and the time bomb that the former radio star had become was rolling precariously towards the hard concrete foundations of not only CBC HQ, but of the very corporation itself. When that time bomb smashed into hard concrete via a video recorded on a CBC-owned media device, well, let's just say that the tremors were not only felt by the building's walls but also by the shaking knees of a whole slew of CBC management. From golden boy to a cancer, in mere minutes. From the chic confines of Studio Q at CBC headquarters, out onto the gutters of Front Street, in a heartbeat.
Totally irrespective of whether the former radio star was guilty of any criminal activity, it was abundantly clear to almost everyone that there was serious dysfunction rampant in Studio Q, and by their inaction, incompetence and lack of desire to reel him in, the CBC effectively sanctioned that dysfunction. In what contemporary workplace could a male superior be able to state that he wanted to "hate f**k" a female subordinate, or actually hump her from behind in mimicry of what he must have wanted to do to her?
For anyone to imply that such behaviour is both quite common yet difficult to police or discipline is completely ridiculous - only an outfit with an excuse for a human resources department could have turned a blind eye. But yes, I can hear you all stating that abuse by superiors is extremely common in the workplace, and when someone is powerful (and in this case, famous too) enough then the rules do not apparently apply to them. This certainly seems to have been the case, and the former radio star was so high profile that not only the subordinates were running scared, but so were upper management at CBC.
The key question is why, and it's not so complicated. Sadly. The key to this situation was not only that the radio star (as he then still was) was a major brand in and of himself, one adored by all, but that it was CBC themselves who had constructed this brand from the ground up; the corporation needed a big star golden boy and so they built one, using a template that was very carefully selected. He didn't disappoint, either.
It was a very symbiotic relationship; one where both parties got a big return from their investment with the other. After having built his brand, and benefiting enormously not only from syndication of the Q radio show, but also from all the free publicity that the former radio star was bringing them, CBC were not going to let some "idiosyncrasies" get in the way of business-as-usual.
It was an error of spectacular proportions and one that would ultimately cost both partners in that symbiotic relationship - heavily. As his star rose, so did the problem become a bigger one, even if that was not apparent at the time. The former radio star, perhaps sensing that he had become too powerful in the corridors of the Front Street HQ to be questioned, actually let it go further to his head and continued with his (not so) merry ways.
But there was a ticking going on in the background, and the time bomb that the former radio star had become was rolling precariously towards the hard concrete foundations of not only CBC HQ, but of the very corporation itself. When that time bomb smashed into hard concrete via a video recorded on a CBC-owned media device, well, let's just say that the tremors were not only felt by the building's walls but also by the shaking knees of a whole slew of CBC management. From golden boy to a cancer, in mere minutes. From the chic confines of Studio Q at CBC headquarters, out onto the gutters of Front Street, in a heartbeat.
There's something very poignant about the lonely stepladder sitting there where the face of the former radio star used to shine down from, leaving one huge question mark over the future for both CBC and the now charged former radio star. His fall from grace is a lot farther than for the scraped pieces of his face that fell onto that tiled floor, and while CBC clearly have no intention of saving his face, he also is going to find it impossible to save face, unless lightning strikes - twice. It's a question of his liberty now, because the job and the career and the celebrity are all part of the past.
As for the title of today's blog, it's truly ironic that it comes from popular song, which was an art form that was at the heart of the former radio star's life and career, and even though it was written decades ago it describes the former radio star's current situation very aptly:
"In my mind and in my car, we can't rewind, we've gone too far
Pictures came and broke your heart, put the blame on VCR
Video killed the radio star...."
Of course the tune (written by genius songsmith Trevor Horn, et al.) referred to the advent of video as promotional tool and how that impacted the business of radio, but it's a very different type of video that killed this radio star: the inexplicable part of this wild story being that the video was not uncovered surreptitiously by CBC but it was in fact presented to them by the former radio star himself. It truly did become, at that moment, the video that killed the radio star.
"And now we meet in an abandoned studio
We hear the playback and it seems so long ago
And you remember the jingles used to go, oh-a-oh
Video killed the radio star, video killed the radio star...."
No comments:
Post a Comment