The CBC celebrates 50 years of broadcasting television to Canadians this September. It’s been an exciting history, full of controversy and triumph. As the nation’s public broadcaster it’s covered every major event from the coronation of Queen Elizabeth to the shocking drama of 9/11. Canadians saw Pierre Trudeau say ‘Just watch me’ to a CBC reporter, then call the troops into Quebec. Dief ‘the Chief,’ ‘Mike’ Pearson, Brian Mulroney and Jean Chretien have all trod the boards of our national stage, to be captured at the time and for posterity by CBC cameras.

Here’s a highly selective list of CBC-TV luminaries. Thousands of creative people have gone through the doors of the various studios and offices that have housed the CBC over the years. All of them deserve acclaim. This group has created some of the finest moments ever achieved at the CBC and they confer a flavor of the public broadcaster at its best.

It’s practically a mantra among the executives at CBC. What are the strengths of the public broadcaster? From president Robert Rabinovitch through his vice-presidents Alex Frame and Harold Redekopp to program director Slawko Klymkiw, they all talk about children’s programming, news and current affairs, sports, and arts and entertainment as the focal points for the organization.

Slawko Klymkiw is the executive director of network programming at the CBC. His distinguished career at the network has seen him work as the executive producer of news and current affairs in Winnipeg and Toronto and head up CBC Newsworld. As a former executive producer, Klymkiw oversaw the development of the CBC ‘National Town Halls’ and the coverage of the South African elections. The leader of CBC’s transformation team, Klymkiw has a broad appreciation of the public broadcaster’s role in this challenging period.

The atmosphere has changed at the CBC. The hallways still have that alienated Kafkaesque look to them, but if you walk into the edit suites and some of the offices, there is a renewed confidence and excitement in the air.

In its search for distinctiveness, the CBC need look no farther than its information programs. The schedule is filled with shows reflecting the fascinating and often brutal reality of events taking place in Canada and around the world. News, current affairs and documentaries dominate every Tuesday and Wednesday night, covering nearly every primetime slot on those evenings.

Identity is a precious commodity, particularly in the media world where an authentic, exciting presence is of paramount importance. Over the past three years, the CBC has committed itself to a transformation plan that consciously redefines the broadcaster to the Canadian public. A team consisting of, on the English broadcast side, top management figures Slawko Klymkiw, the executive director of network programming; Harold Redekopp, English television’s executive vice-president; and Alex Frame, the executive VP of radio; along with key program directors Deborah Bernstein, Nancy Lee, Tony Burman and a select few others formulated a new plan for the national public broadcaster.

Clive Smith’s departure from Nelvana, the animation production giant that he was instrumental in founding 30 years ago, has hardly surprised his friends in the music, television and animation industries. Many voices echoed a comment succinctly delivered by actor Dave Thomas: ‘If you’d told me five years ago that Clive had left the company, I wouldn’t have been shocked.’

Michael McCabe remembers exactly the moment when the Canadian Association of Broadcasters began to assert its new identity. It was 1988 and McCabe had recently taken over the reins of CAB as the president and CEO.

Ten years ago, the Montreal Canadiens were competing for the Stanley Cup, Brian Mulroney was prime minister and the 500-channel universe was still a dream. A lot has changed since then including the coming of age of Canadian series television productions. Shows like Traders, Dudley the Dragon, LEXX, Deux Freres, Radio enfer, Big Comfy Couch and The Associates have been broadcast since that time, attracting millions of viewers here and internationally. Helping to make that growth possible has been the Independent Production Fund and its executive director, Andra Sheffer.
‘Ten years ago,’ recalls Sheffer, ‘there was very little private money in the industry. Producers had to rely on government subsidization for their programs to be made. And there always seemed to be a critical 10% of the budget that was never available in Canada.’

Colin Low doesn’t think of himself as an auteur. The still-dynamic, 74-year-old National Film Board veteran has rarely been placed front and centre in his films or, for that matter, in publicity releases. Instead of adopting a persona and sticking with it, as so many directors have done over the years, Low has kept a profile fully in keeping with his name while pursuing a wide range of filmmaking possibilities.