CBC advocates set to make presentation to Prince Rupert Council tonight

Ms. Kathleen Palm and Ms. Evelyn Basso have requested some time
this evening to make a presentation to City Council on the nature
of CBC Radio service across the Northwest

They may be the most loyal of radio listeners that there are in the Northwest, and once again a pair of representatives of the legion of listeners of CBC Radio in the region are asking for some time to address Prince Rupert City Council.

With Ms. Kathleen Palm and Ms. Evelyn Basso looking to  speak to Council tonight to seek some public support from the city's elected officials towards public broadcasting.

In a request to appear at tonight's council session the pair make note of the significant influence that Prince Rupert has with the CBC and the contribution that the city's residents make to the national conversation about the Canadian broadcasting Corporation.

They also note that they will have post cards to share to help spread Prince Rupert's message to the CBC, something that they state is especially important as the CBC's licence is up for renewal for 2020.

It's not the first time that the CBC's advocates will have spoken to City Council.

In December of 2017 Ms. Basso and Ms. Palm provided some thoughts and some good grades for Council to consider when it came to the work of the CBC on the North Coast.

However, some concerns over holiday season programming that year were followed up by a correspondence to the North Coast Review to explore some of the disappointment that the CBC listeners found at the time.

In May of 2015, the local listeners had asked Council to lend their support to a quest to see the CBC expand its service in the Prince Rupert area, seeking a morning program that would provide more content on the Northwest.

Currently the CBC's mandate provides for a Northern BC service covering all of the communities of the Highway 16 corridor through to Haida Gwaii, as well as portions of the Cariboo and the Peace country.

The target area also includes the City of Prince George, which at times seems to dominate much of the news flow on the morning show.

Despite the calls from 2015 for an expanded service focused on the Northwest, the national broadcaster is still using the same model of two bureaus one in Prince George, the other in Prince Rupert.

Ms. Basso and Ms. Palm are to make their presentation to council at the start of tonight's council session at 7PM.

For more notes on tonight's Council session see our Preview page here.

Further background on the media scene in the Northwest can be found from our archive page.