A defense of CANCON

My friend and fellow blogger Dwight has penned an interesting and humorous entry deriding the state of Calgary radio. I whole-heartily agree with most of what Dwight states. The FM dial is a disaster that seems to represent every demographic except "normal people who like good music not replayed ad-nausium with some intelligent humor mixed in". Good music not being defined as Celine Dion or Def Leopard, and intelligent humor being devoid of farting and throwing phones into a blender. I'm not asking for a Dave Chappelle / Noam Chomsky hybrid but how old is Gerry Forbes' schtick getting? (How old is Forbes anyway? Is farting still funny when you're 45+? We all know that the British refer to a cigarette as a fag, who many times can you replay that bit?)
Dwight throws in a casual critique of CANCON (Canadian Content) citing the overplay of Brain Adams and Celine Dion, and I agree with this sentiment 100%, to quote South Park the Movie "The Canadian government has apologized for Brian Adams on numerous occasions". However the idea of CANCON is a noble and valiant effort to subsidize the work of Canadian artists who would otherwise be overshadowed by American artists backed by huge media conglomerates. Canada and the United States are unique in the world in that they are two nations that speak the same language and have similar cultures but one is at least 10 times bigger than the other. This leads to a situation in which it is very hard for Canadian talent to get sufficient air time compared to their American counterparts. Market fundamentalists will argue that the cream will rise to the top regardless of country of origin and that if Canadians really wanted to hear other Canadians sing their would be no need to subsidize and regulate the radio industry. Bull Shit.
Now I'm no economist (ask Tara and Max)(Oh yeah Max isn't an economist either, but Blake reads the Economist so maybe I should ask him) but I think that markets accurately reflect consumer demand when there is a level playing field. The absence of a level playing field means that the weaker side must be given a leg up in order to compete. When Britney Spears is shown on every TV station and record stores have life size cut outs of her all over the store what chance does an artist like Fiest have? If you are a fan of American mass culture then CANCON does get in the way of hearing more Nelly songs and seeing Fear Factor: Porn Stars Edition, but if most of that crap is not up your alley then CANCON may be your friend.
What Dwight criticized was not the idea of CANCON but the reality of it, and I agree that things appear to have gone off the rails somewhere. I don't have any stats but it seems to me the majority of CANCON that is heard is not up and coming Canadian artists (Canadian Idol contestants aside) but rather aging "classic" rockers or artists who have no earthly need for any form of subsidization.But what is to be done? Can the government force stations to play unknown artists rather than ready-packages superstars? When ever a social problem in Canada emerges it seems we look to one place for possible solutions, Australia.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has a station called triple J that seems to answer many of the problems relating to CANCON. Rather than forcing regulation on independent industries the government has ventured into the industry and done remarkably well. Local artists are given precious air time, different types of music are featured nightly and DJ's have more flexibility than the usual playlist crap that is forced on DJ's by the omniscient and in Calgary's case wholly moronic Music Director. JJJ is not the most listened to station in most markets but it does well enough to allow Aussie acts to come to prominence in Australia. Can the CBC budget allow for a new FM station that will feature Canadian acts? Well probably not, it's a little late to be jumping into the FM radio gig but sprucing up my beloved CBC would be a good start.