A new beginning for Anne Budgell

I had a quick email exchange with Anne Budgell this morning, in which I asked her one question. Anne, as you must know by now, is retiring today after 34 years of service with the CBC in Newfoundland and Labrador. As this photo (taken during the last CBC strike, from John Gushue's website) would suggest, Anne has outlasted them all.

But first, a story. I prefaced the question to Anne by telling her about my own experience working in an old building. During the 1970’s, I served as a clerk at the Post Office in Toronto, at the main postal station on Front Street (in what is now the Air Canada Centre).

That grand old building was being phased out, with employees being moved to one of two new “super-buildings” further out in the suburbs. I was transferred to South Central, where they tried to train me on the postal coding machine; to key in the postal code on letters as they zoomed past, as fast as you could type. It was dehumanizing, as was the sterile environment with cameras everywhere. I told management to forget it; to send me back to the old building until it was phased out, at which point I would resign. (I did, and moved back home to Newfoundland, determined to ‘make it’ as a journalist, which is a story for another day.)

So my question to Anne was, did you time your retirement around the closing of the building on a matter of principle?

While her reply was diplomatic, Anne did confirm that the impending move had some influence on her decision about when to retire.

“I have been thinking of retiring for some time and it's been a tough decision since I do enjoy my work and have a lot of freedom to do what I want with this show,” Anne wrote. “Also, working with Paula Gale has been fabulous and there was no guarantee we'd be able to continue to work together. I went up to the other building to have a look at "my" cubicle and I was dreading having to work there. Paula and I have a small office with a door we can close and we close it numerous times a day. It's the only way we can hear ourselves think.”

“I am lucky because I have enough years of service so my pension will provide an adequate income,” Anne continued. “Being financially able to retire, in combination with other factors, like the building closing, it seemed like the time was right. I don't feel like I'm the only one leaving because everyone is packing their stuff and the place is emptying out. I'm going to take a few trips and I've got a book project to work on. Summer is coming and I've got a grin from ear to ear.”

If you read this on Friday morning, be sure to tune in to CBC Radio Noon to catch Anne’s last show. Also, visit the site to see all the neat stuff that has been going on with the show in recent weeks (and have a look at that movie poster, which has Anne’s head superimposed on Halle Berry’s body).

CBC Radio Building falls silent today

It’s been part of the heart of downtown St. John’s for 54 years. And today, it all comes to an end.

The people and facilities at the CBC Radio Building on Duckworth Street are all moving to the TV building, up on the Parkway. The building has a long and colourful history, as we learned in the excellent retrospective series by Juanita Bates. It once hosted the Total Abstinence Society, the Capitol Theatre and was the location of the first public performance of the Ode to Newfoundland. But its most important role was no doubt home to CBC Radio, which has had a tremendous impact on the character of downtown St. John’s.

I love old buildings; love their convoluted passageways, uneven floors, dusty alcoves and locked rooms packed with artifacts. I have been in the building several times to be interviewed, or to meet with people there, and know that it is a special place (and quite haunted, according to some of the staff who worked late at night).

We will no longer hear Jeff Gilhooly talking about the brilliant sunrise over the narrows, or run into the staff on the street or in the lineup at Hava Java. The shows, of course, will continue and – who knows – they may even get better as a result of the move… though I know it won’t be the same for the staff, who move from the lively artistic and intellectual ferment of Duckworth Street over to the barrens of the parkway (say what you like, it is not the same environment over there).

If you want to learn more about the history of the building, go to the Total Abstinence Society site and this interesting tour of the old Capitol Theatre – with great photos – presented by the Newfoundland Urban Exploration Society.

Today, we mark the closure of an important chapter in our cultural and social history. You can expect to hear special programming all day long – the Morning Show had some great stuff, including interviews with former hosts of the show – so tune in if you can and, if you can’t, look it up in the archives later (go to the CBC site, click programs, then archives). Don’t forget Anne Budgell’s final show today on Radio Noon – it’s her retirement on top of everything else – and you can be sure On The Go will also bid a fond farewell to the building.

I tried to arrange an informal tour of the building, to talk to whoever I ran into and capture some quick memories (plus some photos), but my request was rejected by the public affairs people because there was too much going on with the move. I did pop in for a visit on Wednesday, to pick up something (a tape recording of an interview I did with Joey Smallwood that I lent On The Go, which aired last Christmas). During that visit, I snapped the photo at right of Ted Blades and Ingrid Fraser, host and producer of On The Go. I could easily have walked through the building and recorded a bunch of farewell interviews with whoever I encountered, but decided to behave myself. I already regret that decision.

Whilst standing on the sidewalk to take the photo above, the meter reader guy with the city walked by and said, “Downtown won’t be the same without it.”

I stopped, marvelling at how we all talk with the candor of neighbours calling over the fence, and said, "Yes, it’s gonna feel pretty empty around here.”

The farewells and tributes begin for Anne Budgell

I remarked recently on her enthralling, at times shocking edition of Crosstalk with David Bagby (April 2). That was followed by a Crosstalk about literacy (April 4), in which caller after caller exposed a number of gaps, shall we say, in federal funding support for literacy.

I am talking about Anne Budgell (above, CBC photo), host and producer of Radio Noon on CBC Radio. Budgell always does a strong show and is an exceptional interviewer, but lately she’s really been on a roll.

Unfortunately, it’s all going to end pretty soon. Anne Budgell is retiring from the CBC later this month. Her last day will be April 27.

It will conclude a distinguished 34-year career in which Anne has performed in almost every on-air job there is. According to her CBC bio, Budgell has been “a news reporter, the first female host/reporter on the legendary radio program ‘The Fisheries Broadcast’, co-anchor of the supper hour TV show ‘Here and Now’ and host of the weekly television show ‘On Camera.’ She was executive producer of radio news and current affairs for a while and pleaded to be allowed to go back on the air.”

As the host of the call-in program Crosstalk, Budgell figures that “by now she's probably spoken to you on the air and if not you, then someone in your family.”

Although she is well known for her aggressive interview style (when it is called for), Budgell also has a soft side which is apparent whenever she deals with sensitive or light-hearted subjects. The recent Crosstalk about ‘What Makes You Happy’ (March 26) was pretty off-the-wall and had the potential to fall on its face, but Anne pulled it off in style, delivering one of her most entertaining programs ever.

The good news is, you can listen to the Crosstalks noted above whenever you like, and all other Radio Noon programs going all the way back to May of 2005, by visiting the Radio Noon archive .

In the meantime, try to tune in to Radio Noon as much as you can over the next 17 days and listen live to Anne Budgell, a host who is leaving at the top of her game. It’s hard to imagine CBC Radio without her.

Recognizing quality journalism

Did anyone hear CBC Radio Noon today? Much of it was themed around the Zachary Turner murder case, opening with a riveting interview with Elliot Leyton, who was on the committee appointed by the Child and Youth Advocate to investigate how the murder of little Zachary was permitted to happen. Leyton laid it on the line and was not shy about apportioning blame. That was followed by the Crosstalk call-in show, with David Bagby as special guest. Bagby spoke about his new book, "Dance With the Devil" (the devil being Dr. Shirley Turner). You can truly hear Bagby's anger when he talks about this case - anger that simmers close to the surface even now. It was difficut to listen to this program without having your emotions yanked from anger to grief to compassion to outright shock... such as when Bagby said that his only regret is not killing Shirley Turner while he had the chance. You don't hear radio like this every day, and I congratulate Anne Budgell and the crew on putting together such an unforgettable show. (You can hear it by going to the CBC Radio Noon archive.)

While on the the tragic story of Zachary Turner, congratulations are also in order for Chris O'Neill Yates of CBC Here & Now, who is nominated for an Atlantic Journalism Award for her continuing coverage of the Turner case. Chris's coverage of this story was indeed probing and relentless (in a good kind of way) and I congratulate her on the nomination. Incidentally, Chris is also nominated for an award in the Enterprise category for her stories on the Dr. Chandra case.

There are numerous other nominations for local journalists, including Dennis Mulloy, VOCM (spot news); CBC Radio newsroom (spot news); Glenn Payette, Here & Now (spot news); Pam Pardy-Ghent, The Independent (feature writing); Susan Rendell, The Independent (feature writing); Chris Brookes and the rest of Battery Radio (feature writing, radio); David Cochrane, Here & Now (feature writing, television); Rob Antle, Saltscapes (profile writing); Deanne Fleet, Here & Now (sports reporting); Angela Antle, CBC Radio (arts reporting); and Ryan Cleary, The Independent (commentary).

Congratulations to all, and good luck at the awards ceremony, which takes place May 12 in Halifax. To read the full release, click here.

Anne Budgell skewers sloppy cartoonist

Bravo, Anne Budgell! The host of CBC Radio Noon neatly exposed Anthony Jenkins, an editorial cartoonist with The Globe and Mail, as too lazy to get his facts right.

The subject of the interview was a cartoon Jenkins did for the March 17 edition of The Globe. You can see the cartoon here.

In case the link goes down, the cartoon was split into two panels. The first was an image of Mars, with the heading: “2007: Euro space probe determines Martian south polar ice cap over 3 km thick.”

The next panel, also an image of Mars, reads: “2025: Joint Innu/Newfoundland space shuttle lands on ice cap to conduct feasibility study on clubbing to death young of life forms found there.” A word balloon pointing to the planet’s surface says, “She’s some thick here, St. John’s… ‘n’ Bardot-free d’jeez!”

Anne Budgell called the cartoonist and probed him about his knowledge of the hunt, pointing out that the Innu do not hunt seal. Jenkins was also unaware that we no longer club seals, referring to that old video from the 1980's as his source. His voice became shaky upon realizing that his lack of knowledge of the issue had been exposed, and he began muttering something about banana peel jokes. It’s a great interview and you can hear it by clicking here. You can also read more here (though you have to hear Budgell's interview - it's priceless).

Editorial cartoons are a form of journalism, so it is essential that cartoon writers get their facts right. In this case, Jenkins didn’t do his homework and was called on the carpet for it. The question now is, will he also get a rebuke from his bosses at The Globe and Mail?