Public Broadcasting is the most underrated champion of the media. CBC has been outstanding in their coverage of the whole COVID-19 situation as well as telling the stories of Canadians from across the country and internationally as well. I turn to CBC for all news, local, national and global and their slew of fantastic personalities and hosts make every topic very interesting to the layman. Tom Power and the Q show has been my saving grace from going insane while under social isolation. read more

I have visited the CBC for a few different events, including a couple of food fests and some tapings of their TV shows. The building itself is pretty cool, with various items from Canadian broadcasting history to look at. When you are in the audience of a taping, sometimes you even go home with a little prize, Oprah style! Most recently I was here for a taping of The Steven and Chris show and went home with a Happy Light while having enjoyed a half day full of laughs. If you have a few hours to kill in Toronto on a weekday coming up, I highly recommend signing up in advance to attend a taping of a CBC show. Good times! read more

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - Taping of Steven and Chris - Radio Stations Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

During my occasional trips to the Great White North, I find sometimes find myself in front of the TV. If I'm in the Hotel, I watch The National with Peter Mansbridge, The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos, and of course Colleen Jones for the morning weather and her professional curling perspective. If I'm out and about (and it's the season), I'm in a bar watching Hockey Night in Canada and listening to crusty old Don Cherry opine in his dapper duds. I'm also a big CFL fan, but more often I end up at McMahon or Commonwealth Stadium in person to watch a game live. Back home, I will sometimes buy a DVD for a CBC series. And that's been kind of a mixed bag. For whatever reason, I just couldn't engage with "Little Mosque on the Prairie" or "Corner Gas", even with my Iowa background. On the other hand, "Slings and Arrows" was superb, especially during the Macbeth season. I'm also looking forward to taking a closer look at "Battle of the Blades", a reality show where they match up hockey player/figure skater pairs who compete against each other and at Maple Leaf Gardens. Gayle and I are currently 2/3 of the way through "Being Erica". Maybe it's Dr. Tom or Leo, but there's a certain redemptive quality about many of these episodes that touches us both. And of course, who wouldn't want a chance to uniquely deal with our own personal life regrets? read more

This beautiful building is a definitely a landmark in Toronto and a place you should see if you're a tourist visiting the city. The building is HUGE which is probably why they call it the mothercorp. The inside has super high ceilings, and a lounge with a giant TV showing - what a surprise - CBC. The inside of the building is several levels high with many elevators and brightly coloured walls to mark each floor. I was lucky enough to get a personal tour of the building from my friend who works there, and it was really an interesting experience. They film everything on location, including The Hour with George S. and The National with Peter Mansbridge and of course, the daily newscasts. There is a gift shop filled with CBC swag from your favourite shows and a food court downstairs if you get hungry on your tour. Also, there's some air tight security, so make sure you go in with someone you know and get your very own visitors pass! read more

I have only been through on a day when there really wasn't anything happening, so my review should reflect that. I wandered through the building before a Blue Jays game expecting to kill some time going through the Canadian broadcasting museum. While I wasn't expecting a full day of broadcasting artefacts and interactive experiences, what was there missed my low level of expectation. There were a few cool things there, such as a wall with actual microphones used throughout the history of the CBC. I looked at them and tried to envision the history that those microphones probably witnessed, but unfortunately, there were no signs or exhibits that illustrated it. There were some set pieces from some older shows, but being American and having only been watching some Canadian TV online within the last few years, it didn't have any historical significance to me, but I would expect Canadians would have a different experience. A hidden gem can be found down the escalators where the restrooms are located. Back in a dimly lit corridor, there are some more old artefacts including a Walkman from the 90s. Being a 90s kid, seeing a Walkman as a museum exhibit really just makes me feel old. I wouldn't go out of way to come to downtown Toronto for all of this, but if you happen to be strolling by and are looking to kill a few minutes, it's definitely worth it to stop in and look around a bit. read more

"George Stromboulopoulos Show" The Good: A taping of George Stromboulopoulos first brought me here. The building is of course huge and the studio has been constructed very well. Lise, the "Gatekeeper", has always been very helpful and accommodating. Just don't be late for the taping! No latecomers allowed which I found out last year! Even though the taping is long (3.5 hrs), there is a guy who keeps the audience entertained. Can't remember his name but he's a local comedian. The best part is seeing George live and getting really into his interviews. You can see that passion coming out when he leans forward and creates such a natural back and forth with his guests. The Bad: I was sad that their souvenir shop closed! Was going to go last week, but found out that they are no longer selling anything. Would've liked to get something from the Strombo show, but alas, couldn't even win the prize when they did a quick question contest giveaway in between takes. The Overall: So here's a tip - if you're in love with George, like I am, it's not hard to get tickets. Just go to his website to get yourself on the ticket list and Lise will eventually get you on the email list. Revisit: It's a long time to be sitting in a chair (3.5 hours!) with scheduled washroom breaks in bw filming. I'd say go at least once just to see George doing his thing in person, but anymore than that, you might find your bum turning into a pancake from all the sitting. read more

For a resident in the "West", I'm much more pro-CBC than some of my militant friends who think TO is all this, and all that...their beef that CBC plays too many Leafs and Habs games on Saturday's Hockey Night in Canada... well guess what, 2/3rd's of Canadians live back East, so that's where their advertisers are targeting with their big budget marketing dollars. Simple as that. Quality, in-depth channels like the Passionate Eye and the National, ppl take these guys seriously. read more

I recently went to the CBC Building for the first time, to watch a taping of The Hour, on the day that Billy Corgan was there. Apart from all the excitement contained in that facet of my experience, I still found it pretty cool to take a look around, and thought it strange that I never had before. I think that my relationship with the CBC is the same as a lot of Canadians' (well those of us who aren't conscious superfans), and that is of a peripheral presence in their lives and development. *National Identity And The Building Of/Issues With*, etc, yadda, yadda...I still think it's pretty cool, cuz I think Canada is pretty cool (and to all those people calling CBC "nerdy", I think I just out-nerded you, cuz nothing can beat sheepish Canadian self-acceptance in that department). Highlights for me: 1. the giftshop, with sub-highlights: "The Friendly Giant" brooch (jaw-drop!), and David Suzuki t-shirts. 2. knowing that the Kids in the Hall used to walk these...*ahem*...halls... read more

Hey love the place the employees are always friendly and hopeful. Great shows with live tapings that's you can attend. Always wanted to go watch Steven and Chris but unfortunately we know RIP. read more

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - Main lobby - Radio Stations Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

Giant building. Went to see a taping of The Hour here. It was pretty fun and would definitely skip work to do it again. Anyway, CBC is good tv, I think, and represents us well. They love hockey, I love hockey. They love comedy, I love comedy. They love Canada, some might say I love Canada. See? read more

my connection with the cbc is twofold. i too have visited the building which, sure, is nice enough. i have passed by their monuments to their own history which is interesting. i have always gone to the 5th floor where there is the acting and film school. i have done films with some of the students there and (whether you can attribute this to their school or not i dont know - my impulse is to say no) they have been pretty professional and some have written good stuff. the second fold is listening to the radio, which overall i find very interesting except for their dramatic programs. my favorites would be listening to gian ghomeshi, carol oft, matt galloway. i remember being driven to high school every day by my dad while we listed to peter gzowski (on metro morning i think.) he was great too. read more

A whole bunch of CBC, not overly fond to grade it higher than the bunch of the personal usual. Nothing against it, i mean not bad but whatever there are other broadcasts. read more

The CBC is like a nerdy kid who keeps trying so hard to be cool that he makes himself more and more a laughing stock. They still do news and investigative journalism well (traditionally nerdy), but the entertainment section doesn't have a clue, making clumsy rip-offs of faddy reality shows and failing to put its tired comedy shows out of their misery. For this season, CBC cancelled the excellent crime show "Intelligence" ("CBC drops intelligence", indeed) and is crowing about how acquiring Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy is some kind of broadcasting coup. The CBC building is worth seeing, with its enormous atrium in which special events are often held. You can get free tickets to tapings of CBC shows here. If you're lucky, you might get a chance to tell George Stroumboulopoulos to pull up his pants, for God's sake. read more

Was here for a taping of George during TIFF. The building is nice. Managed to walk around a little, there is lots to see and would warrant another trip. The staff were all friendly and informative. There wasn't much in the way of signage telling me where to stand or anything so I totally stood at the front of the line instead of the back. Luckily I realized before anyone behind me punched me in the head. I'll admit I never watch CBC ever, but this was a cool thing to do with a day and free. Plus I got to be like 10 feet away from George and Benjamin Bratt. That's the stuff dreams are made of. I'll go back. read more

In reference to CBC Website news articles and reader commentary only. Recent changes were rolled out based on new guidelines for commentating on news articles with a goal to "have more thoughtful and meaningful comments" and less "trolling". One of the measures implemented was no more use of pseudo names (basically a pen name), so exiting members were forced to re-establish a new account with a real name. While use of real names is thought to correct some of the distasteful comments, it is known that other measures will be needed too. While this is a first step, it seems to be going ok. The "but" to the situation as follows: 1) News articles are being less and less opened up for commentary, and the articles being opened up are so benign that commentary is more of a exercise than adding any insightful opinion; 2) Most of the articles opened up are based on national items, few of the regional stories seem to be available to comment on; 3) The quality of the article itself seems to less in-depth, where the comments themselves are more interesting than the article; 4) Responses from CBC help desk are basically a generic email with an attempt to pacify as opposed to clear answer; and 5) Lack of transparency around how comments are used and by whom. I applaud CBC for wanting to stay in the venture of news article commentary by readers, however feel there are changes that need to occur. Here are some suggestions: 1) provide an easier means to rate the quality of the article itself; 2) use more technology to scan commentary submissions prior posting; 3) open up more regional stories for commentary; 4) provide feedback to members when comments are outside of guidelines by sending them an email with what section they breached; 5) put system rules around how many comments per article a member can make, this would stifle trolling quite quickly; 6) use a threshold of 'thumbs downs' to flag moderator review as opposed to moderating every comment; 7) more transparency on how comments are used and by whom, this should be added to some information posting in the help section; 8) find more ways to engage members by providing overall stats on number of member, number of comments made in a day, number of stories opened for comments versus total number of stories opened, etc.... this may also help CBC in guiding efforts within commentary; and 9) provide better feedback on help email responses. I truly hope that the commentary process stays on CBC website, and I feel that these suggestions would improve the process and experience. I will gladly re-review in future. Note: the majority of these suggestions have been made via the CBC help portal, and some are new as of writing this review. read more