Mr Robert Rabinovitch
President and CEO, CBC
Box 3220, Station C
Ottawa, ON, K1Y 1E4
Re: Don Hill – Host of CBC’s Wild Rose Forum, Alberta
Dear Mr Rabinovitch,
We have never met Don Hill the host of CBC’s Wild Rose Forum. But we make a point of listening to his program every lunch time after the 1:00pm news. Why do we do this? We do it because to us, and to many Albertans, Don’s program is arguably the best and most relevant of the week. So we were outraged to learn that he has suddenly been made redundant.
Don Hill is an outstanding program host – articulate, well informed and polite to a fault to his guests and to the public, regardless of how outlandish their opinions. In particular, he uses his friendly personality to get people, who normally might be too shy to do so, to phone in and participate in the program. As a result, he has enormous support amongst CBC listeners throughout Alberta.
Don chooses topics that are important and relevant to Albertans and does not shy away from controversial issues just because the Alberta establishment would prefer that we meekly accept their particular spin. Don does what good journalists are supposed to do. He challenges listeners to recognize and think for themselves on issues that affect society today.
His subjects have varied from gay rights to GM foods and he always researches and brings in experts to enrich the debate. Recently he initiated a series of programs on electricity de-regulation which is widely recognized as a disaster for Albertans.
The fact that he was made redundant shortly after his latest program in that series is highly suspicious and suggests management’s decision was politically motivated. The obvious message this sends to other CBC show hosts that might have been encouraged by Don’s popularity is, “if you want to keep your job, steer clear of topics that the provincial government is sensitive about.”
As you know, many, many Canadians regard CBC radio as a waste of taxpayers’ money and would be happy to see it dissolved. The fact that this hasn’t yet happened is largely because of the loyalty of people like us who listen to it every day. Most of us do so not for weather forecasts, sport or pop music, but for its news programs (‘As it Happens’), its documentaries and intelligent phone-in programs like ‘Cross Country Check-up’ and ‘Wild Rose Forum’. Above all, we listen to and respect CBC because it fosters one of the cornerstones of Canadian society - free speech. Stop doing this, or dumb CBC down further and you will lose us. If we want vacuous programming, there is no shortage of other radio stations to turn to.
We strongly urge that you look into the matter of Don Hill’s so-called redundancy, because the CBC has too few journalists of Don’s calibre with the courage and skill to handle difficult and controversial subjects in a professional manner. Rex Murphy and Michael Enright can do it – and so can Don Hill, equally well in our view.
We look forward to hearing from you that Don Hill has been promptly re-instated as host of Wild Rose Forum and given the authority to continue his excellent programs unchanged.
Thank you
Yours truly,
R. & M.W.
cc. Jane Chalmers, Vice President, English Radio, CBC
Don Orchard, Regional Director, CBC Calgary
Friends of Don Hill