CBC And VOB Battle For Top Talk Show Slot In The Afternoon

Vic Fernandes - CEO Starcom Network

The Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)  decision to change the radio programming by expanding the talk segment appears to have gone down well. The introduction of the controversial neoliberal Peter Wickham as a moderator will boost ratings for that reason alone!

We also observe that the CBC was able to entice Marsha Hinds-Layne from Voice of Barbados (VOB) as well. We have become accustomed to the movement of personnel between CBC and VOB over the years and the competition in talk radio should hopefully make for better radio. We have to admit that we are not surprised at the move by Marsha. She appeared to be frustrated in recent months working under the heavy hand of VOB Talk Show Czar Michael Browne. We shouldn’t blame Browne, he is obviously acting under instructions from CEO Vic Fernandes. It is about saving the station money, to hell with standing up to frivolous suits to protect the honour of the Fourth Estate.

Lars G.O. Söderström Lars G.O. Söderström - CEO CBC

Peter Wickham’s departure has come as more of a surprise. After being treated like a step child by the Nation newspaper in the period leading up to the last general election, VOB was steadfast in their support for Wickham. He has admitted this publicly. We can only surmise that Wickham believes working for one year at VOB in the post election period should be enough to reward that loyalty!

A bit of advice to Lars who has been going about his work quietly at the CBC. You don’t need Wickham on the air for three days, he will become boring after awhile. Why not team-up the hugely popular Tony “Admiral’ Nelson and Larry Mayers to cover the topics of Entertainment/Culture/Sports on Wednesdays?  That”s the finish you need!

On the subject of talk shows.

For several years now listeners to VOB have had to tolerate the annoying malfunctioning telephone system which continues to produce poor audio. Many listeners to VOB who call to report the problem are sometimes made to feel that it is their telephone, or their audio pitch, or some reason other than VOB’s malfunctioning telephone system. We have delayed blogging about this problem because there was nothing concrete we could use to point blame. After listening to Peter Wickham last week on CBC, he hinted that he was now working with superior equipment. The cat is now out of the bag. VOB needs to remember who have made them popular, the PEOPLE and show more respect by fixing the problem of its malfunctioning equipment.

The irony is that VOB has increased its afternoon talk show segment to 3 hours but the poor audio quality remains. Could this be about generating more advertising opportunity in what is projected to be a bleak 2009? If it is then it says a lot about how executive management views its obligation to providing good service to the PEOPLE.

Now that Peter Wickham is at CBC it will be interesting to wait for a CADRES study to determine which station  gets to be King of talk show radio in the afternoon.

Thanks to BU family member who prodded us to highlight this matter after several unanswered communications were sent to the station.