Why does the CBC need help? In every other significant Canadian city, CBC Radio One is on the FM dial. But in Metro Vancouver, it’s on AM. According to CBC Radio research (Foundation Research, 2004), 40% of CBC Radio One listeners have problems receiving the AM band. Also, AM is on the decline. (You can read more at the CBC’s site.)

Why does this matter to you? While CBC drifts in the forgotten waters of the AM band, rawkin stations like, oh, I don’t know, Jack FM dominate the dial with, well, crap. And that’s not right. And CBC deserves a better platform to broadcast is programs. CBC reports on real news. CBC supports local arts and culture. CBC supports writers and readers. Helll, CBC supports me!

What can you do? The CRTC has not made this process especially easy. But I can boil it down to 4 Easy Steps! This has to be done by January 23…

• Go directly to the form on the CRTC website and send your comments click here and click on the button #2007-18.
• Then, check the box beside #200714239 (in the list, this is the second CBC application) and go to the bottom of the page and select next.
• Follow the instructions to complete your letter of support.
• And please remember to also copy CBC on your e-mail at REGULATORYAFFAIRS@CBC.CA

For what it’s worth, here’s mine…

CRTC Secretary General
By email

Dear sir or madam, I am writing in support of the CBC’s application to move British Columbia station CBU from the AM to the FM dial.

I understand that FM reaches a larger range of the Lower Mainland – and a larger share of listeners – and I believe that everyone in Metro Vancouver has the right to hear and be part of the excellent broadcast services provided by the CBC. In fact, that is its mandate and our privilege.

I understand also that other Canadian cities have CBC Radio One news and information services available on the FM dial. No other broadcaster in Canada has the CBC’s ability and willingness to support our country’s arts and culture – or its willingness to report objectively on current affairs. This is especially important right now. The more our airwaves – like our newspapers – fall into the traps of corporate convergence and political debt, the more crucial our public broadcaster becomes.

It’s in the best interest of everyone in the Lower Mainland to be part of the conversation that the CBC supports. In turn, I believe the CBC deserves the widest and best platform from which to broadcast that conversation; in this case, the FM band.

Thank you,
John Burns
author, Vancouver

So Allan MacDougall, publisher of Raincoast Books (and therefore Runnerland), announced today that ithe company is terminating its publishing program. (It will focus on distributing other publishers’ books.)

This means no more books originated by Raincoast after the spring 2008 season, and that the company will be reverting rights to its backlist over time. It also means the end of employment for some very talented people, so a shout-out now to my editor there, Tonya Martin, who’s been very supportive of my next book, tentatively titled Flow, which is now as homeless as Runner himself.

Also, I don’t know whether Jesse Finkelstein, associate publisher, will remain. Jesse is one of the best in the biz. She’ll be snapped up in a New York minute. I’m relieved that the below suggests the marketing/publicity team remains: Crystal Allen, kids’ publicist, is newly there and a huge asset to the company. All three women are so talented – hey, an instant publishing company!

Here’s the sad news…

(Vancouver January 7, 2008): Raincoast Books announced today a comprehensive plan to focus on its core business operations.

In the wake of 2007’s appreciation of the Canadian dollar, Raincoast reduced suggested retail prices by 20%. Now Raincoast is moving to control costs. Starting today, the company will be streamlining business operations and focusing exclusively on its long-term distribution partners and wholesale business. This marks a return to Raincoast’s original, and very successful, business model.

The major elements of the 2008 business plan include:

The closing of the Raincoast publishing program: Spring 2008 will be the final season for the Raincoast publishing program. Although it has won or been short-listed for every major literary prize in Canada during the last decade, the publishing division has remained unprofitable. The spring’s 15 titles will be supported with full sales and marketing campaigns. Raincoast will honour all outstanding financial contractual commitments to its authors. “This has been a necessary but very painful cost-cutting decision,” said Allan MacDougall, CEO of Raincoast Books; ”made all the more difficult by the exceptional calibre of writers and the staff we have cultivated over the last few years.”

Consolidating warehouse space: Currently 95% of Raincoast’s shipping is through the Vancouver warehouse and the company has decided to close its smaller secondary warehouse in Mississauga. The target completion date for this is March 31. Raincoast is confident that it will maintain its industry-leading shipping times to customers across Canada.

Staff reductions: The above closures, combined with some streamlining of workflows, will result in a loss of 20 staff positions through layoffs and attrition. Raincoast and its Toronto-based division, Publishers Group Canada, will continue to operate fully staffed sales and marketing offices in both Vancouver and Toronto. BookExpress will continue to provide wholesale service to customers across Canada.

Focus on core distribution partners: Raincoast plans to make strategic cuts to its stable of distribution clients in order to devote more resources to key publishers. This will be implemented in the second half of 2008 and trade announcements will follow shortly. This strategy will allow Raincoast to devote more resources to its long-term core distribution partners and to seek out new lines that fit its business model.

“Raincoast can only deliver on the promise of lower suggested retail pricing by having rigorous cost controls and an absolute focus on our core business,” said Allan MacDougall. “These are the new realities of the Canadian book industry, and we are prepared to face these challenges head on in 2008.”

Except it’s handy once a year (at least) to have enough time to take interior inventory – like, the store’s closed one day a year for shelf-counting and tidying, and the shop is you.

So, what have I come up with as I sweep the aisles and survey the detritus within? Well, changes already afoot for 2008, so there’s that. Change = good.

Really, just to be more me. Which, resolutionwise, means more time cooking, more time writing (fiction), less time obesssing about work, maybe similar time at the gym, other private stuff not suitable for a blog.

And how’s it going so far? Made two recipes from Xmas present How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: griddlecakes make with oatmeal, and braised tofu with peas in curried coconut milk. Tofu v. delicious, griddlecakes bland (intentionally, for the ungrateful kids who didn’t eat them anyway) but excellent w/ the aforementioned tofu.

Writing? Lots of thinking these days about structure, and intertwining narratives.

Words to live by in 2008:

And happy new year to you, one and all.

PS. As fine an editorial obit as anyone could hope for, from my friend and mentrix Lorna “Power Play” Jackson.

I do think Susan Swan, head of the Writers Union of Canada, could have been kinder, though, in her condemnation of the act. Check out the WUC release below on the subject, and particularly her line “what is little more than a children’s fantasy”. Ouch.
 

December 20, 2007
Press Release for Immediate Release
 

WRITERS DECRY CENSORSHIP OF CONTROVERSIAL BOOK

 
The Writers’ Union of Canada is claiming that the decision by Ontario’s Halton Catholic School Board to remove Philip Pullman’s books, including The Golden Compass, from its schools is an outrageous form of knee-jerk censorship.
 
“By prohibiting its students from reading what is little more than a children’s fantasy, the school board is displaying a form of censorship which dates back to the days when the Roman Catholic Church published long lists of books that adherents were not allowed to read,” said Susan Swan, chair of the Writers Union. “It’s very disturbing and shows a lack of enlightenment by the board.”
 
Reacting to a parent complaint, the board originally removed the book for review purposes. Despite a recommendation by the review committee that the book should remain on the school shelves, the board’s trustees overrode that recommendation and ordered the books removed. The ban even extended to other books by Pullman that were not subject to a complaint.
 
“The role of schools is to open children’s minds to the many things which delight them, not to hide them away behind antiquated dogma,” added Swan. “It’s all too reminiscent of the challenges which confronted the Harry Potter series, except that those school boards had the sense to reject the complaints.”
 
Now a major motion picture, The Golden Compass depicts a young girl in a parallel world who is confronted with a battle between good and evil. Conservative Catholic organizations in the United States, claiming that Pullman’s books are contrary to what they call “Catholic values,” have urged a boycott of the movie, which has nonetheless become a box-office hit.
 
“When organizations ban books, they are effectively shooting themselves in the foot,” added Ron Brown, chair of the Union’s Rights and Freedoms Committee. “Such action simply draws more attention to the material they are trying to hide, and defeats their original purpose in banning them. This has become as disturbing as the decision in 2006 by the Toronto District School Board to remove Deborah Ellis’ book, Three Wishes again, despite a recommendation by their review committee that the book be retained,” Brown added. That book, which included actual interviews with Israeli and Palestinian children, was removed following concerted lobbying by the Canadian Jewish Congress.
 

The Writers’ Union of Canada is our country’s national organization representing professional authors of books. Founded in 1973, the Union is dedicated to fostering writing in Canada, and promoting the rights, freedoms, and economic well being of all writers. For more information, please visit www.writersunion.ca.