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Silverman can No Longer Help

When we asked what the rationale was, we were told, `We don’t have to give you a rationale.‘”

–Peter Silverman on the discussion that ensued when
“Silverman Helps” was brought to an end by Rogers management

Rogers has been steadily building a media empire the likes of Clearchannel or Newscorp in the US.  With that growth seems to be the ever-increasing “corporatism” that I noted in my post over on vox (http://nitemayr.vox.com/library/post/what-corporations-sometimes-are-like.html).  That is to say the culture becomes very insular and profit focused, forsaking tangible goodwill for monetized good-something.

“We have more user-generated content than ever,” argued Haggarty. “We’re not any less committed to defending the consumer. We’re reviewing and relooking at everything. This is all just a part of the process.”

–Jamie Haggerty

As if user-generated equals actual parcipitation.  I could pull a bunch of youtube video and call it user generated too.  CityTV and Much built a great deal of their cache on the backs of the kids and soccer moms that seemed to orbit the Queen and John studio in waxing and waning numbers, it appears that the Rogers folks are looking to turn that culture into a “Good Morning America” type culture where they set the hours for participation from the audience.  The death of “Speakers Corner” and “Silverman Helps” seem to be setting that path ahead with increasing clarity.

CityTV under Moses Znaimer was community-focused and accessible.  It remains to be seen what the Red and White of Rogers will do to the nigh-institution of City.

Quotes pulled from this article at “The Toronto Star”:

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/441790

Published inCommentaryEntertainment