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list price: $26.95
edition:eBook
category: Biography & Autobiography
published: Apr 2012
ISBN:9781926812748
publisher: Douglas & McIntyre

Tower of Babble, The

Sins, Secrets and Successes Inside the CBC

by Richard Stursberg

tagged: personal memoirs, media & communications industries, popular culture
Description

"So, while a tell-all -- the circumstances and atmosphere surrounding his end at CBC loom mysteriously over the book until the final chapter -- Stursberg doesn't come off vindictive. With his memoir, he's still trying to help save the CBC." -- Telegraph Journal

"Richard Stursberg's rage dominates his crackling autobiography -- as does his grief for the lost network's unfulfilled promise." -- Globe & Mail

The ultimate CBC insider exposes the controversies, successes and dead ends of his time at the top.

In 2004, CBC television had sunk to its lowest audience share in its history. That same year, Richard Stursberg, an avowed popularizer with a reputation for radical action, was hired to run English services. With incisive wit, Stursberg tells the story of the struggle that resulted -- a struggle that lasted for six turbulent and controversial years.

Shortly after Stursberg arrived, the corporation locked out its employees for two months. Four years later, he signed the most harmonious labour contract to date. He lost the television rights for the 2010 and 2012 Olympic Games. He won the biggest NHL contract in history. He had unprecedented ratings successes. He had terrible flops. He enjoyed the best radio, television and online ratings in CBC's history. He fought endless wars with the CBC president and board about the direction of the corporation and ultimately was dismissed.

This is the story of our most loved and reviled cultural institution during its most convulsive and far-reaching period of change. It is for those who think the CBC has lost its way, those who love where it is, and those who think it should not exist in the first place.

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About the Author

Richard Stursberg

RICHARD STURSBERG is the former head of CBC’s English services: television, online and radio. Before that, he was executive director of Telefilm Canada and achieved the largest share for Canadian movies at the domestic box office in history. He was also chair of the Canadian Television Fund (now the Canadian Media Fund), CEO of the satellite television company Star Choice, president of the Canadian Cable Television Association and Assistant Deputy Minister for Culture and Broadcasting. He lives in Toronto.

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