Stursberg has left the building (Image: Helenmoverland)
The CBC’s anything-to-boost-ratings executive VP Richard Stursberg has left the building (some say he was escorted out) after six years of transforming the CBC from the sober public broadcaster that offered Canucks wise political parody and educational features into the home of such slick shows as Dragons’ Den and the defunct MVP: The Secret Lives of Hockey Wives.
Like any network capitalist, Stursberg has his foes and followers. The Toronto Sun highlighted the network’s 52 per cent increase in viewers in an average minute and 34 per cent jump in overall market share since Stursberg started, while former CBC producer Howard Bernstein called him “the most disruptive and hated VP of CBC” in his blog post “Ding Dong the Witch Is Dead.” Here, a roundup of the major changes at the CBC under Stursberg’s rule >>
Stursberg’s assault on classical music was irresponsible, philistine, misguided and unjustified. Now that he’s gone, just give us back what was taken from us!
August 10, 2010 at 11:27 am | by David BasskinLet’s get the facts right. The CBC wanted to employ as many people as it wanted on a contract basis, rather than in an ongoing, permanent manner. What it got: contract employees can be NO MORE THAN 9.5% of the permanent workforce. It’s a huge difference. The lockout was completely unnecessary — a huge miscalculation in strategy on the part of three CBC senior executives, including Stursberg. We would have been able to arrive at that agreement without such extreme action on the CBC’s part.
Please read my blog on the Stursberg “departure” at
http://newsshift.blogspot.com/2010/08/richard-stursberg-early-thoughts-about.html
Lise Lareau
August 11, 2010 at 11:23 am | by Lise LareauNational President
Canadian Media Guild