January 11: Leno, Rotman, Signal
Today on the Scroll: no local hook for failed Jay Leno; cultural studies shape MBAs at the Rotman School of Management; and uncritical praise for CBC Radio 2.
NBC’s late night quandary [Rob Salem, Toronto Star]: Local newspapers still send columnists to the television press tour in Pasadena, providing an excuse for not finding out the local angle on the big story: the cancellation of the prime-time Jay Leno Show. However, you can read Andrew Ryan of The Globe and Mail “front and centre at the TV tour” — making an hour-long liveblog out of one tweet’s worth of information. So, not learned is what was risked by Citytv by putting Leno on five nights per week, effectively defining Rogers Media’s idea of the once-audacious television brand. “The situation is not considered as dire for Citytv,” writes Canwest News Service’s Alex Strachan, “because City doesn’t have the reach or same number of stations of conventional networks like CBC, CTV and Global.” But they put up money to broadcast and promote NBC’s gambit, no? What was the return on investment? This would be the perfect window for Rogers to produce their own talk show and prove the viability of local television in Canada. Not that anyone expects this to happen — so, while it lasts, you can still watch Citytv’s commercial break-padding “Official Comedy Correspondent” Doug Stevenson tell you “What’s Great About The Jay Leno Show!”
Multicultural Critical Theory. At Business School? [New York Times]: Good press for Rotman School of Management dean Roger Martin, whose critical and creative approaches to MBA education are lauded for being ahead of the curve. There, students are learning how a book becomes a best seller, and how to revive Yahoo! Canada — and there you thought social media experts had all the answers. “The vast majority of our students want to be a positive influence on the world,” says Martin. “And if you give them ways of thinking that help them with these complicated dilemmas, they’ll make choices that are in some sense more worthy and have a higher moral quality.”
CBC Radio 2: Transformers [Montreal Gazette]: Revamped public radio station can do no wrong according to newspaper music critic T’Cha Dunlevy. “The show is skewing even younger than we thought,” boasts late-night The Signal host Laurie Brown. “We get a lot of university and some high school kids. It surprises and delights me.” Yet, the Montreal-based show she replaced, Brave New Waves, reached them for 23 years, so what’s the difference? “Then we get all kinds of senior citizens listening, sending fantastic stories of World War II,” she adds. “It just seems like there is a place for everybody. … It proves that curiosity, wanting something new, (is not just a trait of) tyrannical youth. It’s for everyone.”
… and more all day today @mondoville and dailystream@mondoville.com.