BNW host Patti Schmidt

For a punk-inclined rural teen like myself, with little access to culture beyond the barn door, it was a miracle indeed. Both a lifesaver and a life changer.

Brave New Waves was where I first heard of bands like Butthole Surfers and Billy Bragg, Dead Kennedys and Fugazi, Camper Van Beethoven and Minutemen. Never mind a whole raft of Canadian artists who would figure prominently in my musical formation: Asexuals, NoMeansNo, Jellyfishbabies, SNFU, Skinny Puppy, 54-40, Breeding Ground, Déjà Voodoo... It provided a national musical education in the dark underbelly arts like none other - in other words, it did its job.

"I think you should call the article 'Ten years of obscurity,'" then-host Brent Bambury laughed when I interviewed both he and current host Patti Schmidt for Hour's cover on the occasion of the show's 10th anniversary (vol. 202, Feb. 10, 1994). "I think our formula is eclectic to the point of being absurd, and all the eclecticism just precludes the possibility of becoming incredibly popular. That's the sort of self-defeating formula that seems to have been the magic number for us."

In keeping with last week's theme, Montreal cultural demolition ("Say it ain't so," regarding the impending destruction of the Spectrum - a petition to save it may be found at www.petitiononline.com/abc456g8/petition.html), we bring you more good news...

Last Wednesday the CBC announced that, one week shy of its 23rd anniversary, Brave New Waves (on CBC Radio Two at 93.5 FM in Montreal) would be axed from the lineup. Actually, the CBC didn't have the cojones to actually announce it, they merely implied it, introducing a whole raft of changes to Radio Two that included "contemporary music showcased from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m." Thereby bumping BNW.

"Half of our audience on Radio Two now is over 65... and we're not attracting new listeners into the service," CBC Radio vice-president Jane Chalmers explained. "We want to bring in the 40-plus kind of group. In some ways, it's our listeners' kids that we want." (Just not their listeners' kids' kids.)

The changes also affect Radio One, including the cancellation of pop-culture show Freestyle. As a friend remarked, "Only the CBC could cut the two programs with any proven record of attracting listeners younger than 85 in a bid to attract listeners younger than 85." Yahtzee!

"I'm sad about it," says long-time BNW host Patti Schmidt. "There have been a couple of heartbreaking letters that have come in supporting the show, and it's sad to realize that there's no place for [BNW] in people's programming."

Schmidt says the show has been pulling in anywhere from 35,000 to 70,000 listeners, which ain't stellar. "But it's only the first hour that gets measured, and it doesn't include French or border listeners. On our last anniversary, we got more letters and phone calls from the Michigan area than from all of Canada combined," she says.

While strong arguments may be made that 1) other, especially web-based, sources of music offer greater usability, 2) radio as a primary medium has limited relevance in the present day, and 3) renewal is a vibrant component of any arts and culture vehicle, it could also be observed that the CBC does a poor job of promoting its programming assets. Especially ones it's a little leery of in the first place.

For Schmidt's part, she says she has her "own political theories about what happened... and I think most of the rest of the network [management] hasn't been comfortable with Brave New Waves. It frightens their core listenership."

To add insult to injury, the new "contemporary music" show that partially replaces BNW will be based in, no prizes here, Toronto. "We're losing a huge chunk of our cultural real estate and a specific [Quebec] sensibility," confirms Schmidt. "You're allowed to be a bit weirder here. You're not under the all-seeing eye of Toronto where they question everything. And Montreal has more artists per capita than any other city."

As for Schmidt's future at the Corpse, "I'm going to be reassigned - I'll just be a voice for the national 8 to 10 p.m. performance program on Radio Two, and will probably contribute to the new national arts show on Radio One. But they reassigned 63 people, so who knows."

Repeats of Brave New Waves, the best of, will continue to run until March 19, when the changes kick in. Schmidt says she'll be among those tuning in. "Yes, I've been listening to them, and I half look through my fingers at them. The great thing about radio is it goes away."

Sadly, that seems all too true.

 
 

		Write your comment on this article!

Betrayed Night Owl     I am now 22 and I discovered BNW about 2 years ago. I'm so sorry it wasn't sooner. I feel I have lost a friend and after listening to the replacement program a few times only to turn it off with frustration every time, I have grown discouraged and saddened. These examples of cultural 'strategies' forsake innovative artistic integrity for mainstream readership. Is this the CBC's policy? Without Brave New Waves the prospect of the next year filled with many late nights of writing my Masters thesis isn't so cozy as it was before. I guess I'll be turning off the radio and opening yet another browser page from now on.
Christien Garcia		March 21st, 2007
Ouch!     I'm 48 now, and have been listening to BNW for years. Since it began. Not all the time, but occassionally. Always wondering how Patti Schmidt did it, sounding so young and hip while I kept getting older and older. The viracose veins, and pains in the joints, the grey hairs that appear one by one as time goes by. And now this! Ugh! Feels like the CBC pushed me one step closer to the grave. Keep on being a young punk hottie (in my imagination), Patti! May you always be the punk/new wave girlfriend I never had! :-) And may all of your producers and engineers and all of the musicians and bleeding-edge music lovers remain forever as you were on 10,000 iTrip-broadcasting hard drives out there across the planet.
Ian Robbins		February 7th, 2007
R.I.P.     You really hit the nail on the head with your key quote: "Only the CBC could cut the two programs with any proven record of attracting listeners younger than 85 in a bid to attract listeners younger than 85." This is as mind-boggling as CBC policies can get, and they've had quite a few doozies (like censoring their own Canadian hits like The Newsroom). . I too got to know BNW during its very first week, and was surprised to see just how open its doors. Even though I'm not a musician, I was granted "permanent guest status" for sending in examples of Russian rock music and African chants, and we had quite a few impromptu on-air discussions whenever I happened to chance by at 1 am. Throw in spoken word pieces and no-holds-barred interviews (with curse words left intact--imagine that), and you get the most daring innovations ever to have been heard on national airwaves. . I can't end this tribute without mentioning the winning personality of original host Augusta La Paix, who's the main reason I still treasure my recordings of the show's original broadcasts (saving five-hour radio programs--imagine that again). A miracle like BNW will never happen again; let's at least be glad it lasted this long.
Charles Montpetit	{58 votes}	January 26th, 2007
bye BNW     i just remember in grade 9 (circa 94) listening late as i cud. taping as much as i cud; hearin very much wonderful obsure music. bein sleepy from late nights of excellent selections from underground artists. it was like listenin to a pirate station i imagine from the glory days of those broadcasts; anyone who heard BNW was lucky to be one of the chosen few. many im sure could not care less (obviously as we've witnessed) to BNW's existence. a passing of a legacy only a few will care to remember. a truly unique time where music seemed like it could change the world. similar to the feeling of the dawn of the late 60's. or maybe my sentiment makes me feel as tho i to could have a special time to call our own, thx for the babble
Carl Schiefer		July 29th, 2008
Brave New Waves : Another Great Canadian Move     I am beside my self. I listened to that damn show for years. YEARS. I love it. Patti Schmidt should have been given a golden key to take whatever time slot she liked and develop the show how she wanted. Alas, I have decided that the cancellation of Brave New Waves is why I hate Canada. This show should be exported but instead they pull the plug. What a great Canadian move: instead of nurturing and exporting a Canadian original they fall back on the same ol' provincial mentality. Didn't even give the show a proper good bye. One post in this forum said "we should be happy the show lasted this long"......are you kidding me? Congradulations you've taken complacency to a whole new level. Honestly, Patti, tell me what I have to do to get you back on the air?
Joe Bloom		March 8th, 2008
are you kidding me??     I'm litterally crying.......____________________ A big old flat line to you cbc!
Rob Armstrong		March 6th, 2008
The Best Radio show in the World     Wow! They cancelled the best radio show in the world. I started listening to BNW when I was in high school in 1984. From the late 80's and throughout the 90's it was my companion as I worked the night shift and would listen to the show in it's entirety almost every night. I discovered Skeleton Crew with Fred Frith, Snakefinger and the Residents, Jah Wobble, The Ex, Jim Thirwell, Genesis P-Orridge, The Orb, music from the Sound Symposium in St. John's, Newfoundland, an opera about Charles Manson featuring Iggy Pop, Henry Rollins, and much, much, much, much more. I recently dug up some cassette tapes containing excerpts of the show that I recorded from when Brent Bambury was the host and treated myself to a blast from the past.
Derek Labchuk		August 28th, 2007
Loved Brent Bambry     Discovered BNW on Sept. 12, 1985. Grew up with it. First heard Wim Mertens there, and so many others. Surprised CBC kept it around so long, considering their corporate stupidity. Bambry is the finest announcer I've ever listened to.
Doug Hollenbeck		August 7th, 2007
Lonely Kid gets Answer     damn it! that show meant so much to me. i can't believe they would do this. BNW was and has been essential to dealing with all that angst in my soul as a child and even today. it tought me how to not only appreciate obscure clicky gliche electronics music, but to be penitrated by the music wholly altogether. that show created for me, a world of bohemian dreams of her'sters (and him'sters) and all night piety to the exotic sounds of no where canada, montreal. i miss it and i hope, in a dream-land that one day we will be hearing Patti's from-underground sacred voice again on the radio or, clearly in our heads once again someday.
Tomas Morante		June 12th, 2007
So Direly Unfortunate...     Last Saturday (April 28th) I was given the opportunity to see Patty put on a DJ set at an overnight party in Kitchener. I gave her my condolences and I felt a little better to know that a fellow music lover had managed to keep some of that stream of great music open to her. She put on a pretty hard core set topped off with a long screeching noise piece. Whenever I was able to listen to the show I discovered something new and wonderful, or I learned something knew about something I already loved. BNW provided an extremely rare and informed outlet for people who love experimental and other forms of underground music. My Condolences to the fans...
Andrew Korell		April 30th, 2007
Thanks dude     Here I thought that I was one of the brave ( heh..heh..) few that still listened to Brave New Waves! It is nice to know and to see that I am not the only one who will have a deep sense of sorrow now that the show has gone of into the great distance. It was always a canny mix and will be very much missed over here. It is a shame that the CBC is so badly run still that this one could get canned! Very depressing indeed.
Reuven De Souza		April 24th, 2007
Babylon, P.Q.     I'd like to say that this was just CBC Radio standard operation procedure but this is what radio stations have always done. The classier ones give us listeners a chance to say goodbye (or if we're lucky, a chance to save the shows we like) but as a rule the shows and hosts we like routinely get shafted for the dumbest possible reasons. The only business more asinine is network TV.
Pedro Eggers		April 22nd, 2007
So Many Amazing Things Were Heard     How sad I am to read this news, and sad to say that I discovered it because I was wondering if Brave New Waves was still on the air. Tomorrow night I'm going out to see Nels Cline, an artist I wouldn't know of if it weren't for the folks on BNW. This musical introduction service, introducing artists to listeners, is being shut down, but what a great run they had! Whose idea was this show anyway? Who would have thought, when it began, that it would continue for so long? Yes, Brave New Waves will be sadly missed.
Bruce MacDougall		February 22nd, 2007
Shame CBC     Again, CBC screws up. It's not surprising, as the mandate of the CBC is more about filling up the airspace & chewing up tax dollars than entertaining and/or serving the community - which does in fact sponsor it's activities. When I worked a nightshirt, I accidentally came across BNW while scooting across the radio dial, and it became my friend through many a lonely night working till the sun came up. Not only were the hosts amazing, but I heard a whole lot of stuff that I would never hear in the devastated wasteland of radio scape we have here in Montreal. When I eventually graduated to a job where I could work while the sun was out - I was amazed to find that there was really no counterpart to it during the day. To my knowledge, CBC has not ever spent much time or energy promoting this show, this showcase of what Canadian radio could be. I would bet you that not only do most people not know about BNW, that most probably couldn't tell you where CBC was on their radio dial. CBC has never been seen as the bastion of hip or ground-breaking - and BNW was their chance at being that. They had it in their grasps and what did they do, hide it at midnight or later, with little to no promotion, and then cancel it when ratings were low - and yet somehow they were surprised. One question comes to mind, is the brain-trust responsible for such decisions, the same guys responsible for promoting the Expos into the ground ?
Rob Postuma		February 17th, 2007
Bill From Michigan     Brave New Waves will be missed by the people that live along the border in the U.S. We still had some cool music to look forward to on a regular basis. I guess the business mentality that has dominated the arts on our side of the border has finally trickled up. The same kind of changes swept our WDET here in Detroit. It was a truly sad moment for the lovers of good and varied music. Sorry.
Bill Brovold		February 4th, 2007
Thanks for the memories     Augusta/Brent/Patti I too grew up with you and was with you until the end. You've left a legacy of radio that takes chances and is always relevant. I am sad to see you go. I will think nice thoughts that someday all of the children you have spawned will challenge radio and continue to create it with your guidance. Thanks so much for being a friend. I will truly miss you.
Steven Venn		February 3rd, 2007
Breaking Waves     Wow, BNW has been such a mainstay for so long that it never even remotely occurred to me that it would ever give up the ghost. Shame 'cause even with the preponderence of internet and satellite radio fare available, there are few hosts as knowledgable or impassionned as Patti Schmidt.
Mark St Pierre	{15 votes}	January 27th, 2007
I miss Brave New Waves!!     I am female, age 65, & I will miss Brave New Waves (& Freestyle); Brave New Waves is innovative & brings some much needed 'alternative music' to the CBC. I thought the CBC was for everyone. I thought it was the one radio station that exposed us to all types of music. I wonder how opera ever got a foothold at the CBC; I'm sure in the beginning it was a hard sell also.Thank you
Glenn Wallace	{17 votes}	January 26th, 2007
Thanks for the News Jamie     Even though the news sucks, thanks for passing it along. I assure you that BNW was just as significant for a 15 year old in Ottawa as it was in rural Ontario. In fact it was a part of the reason I moved to Mtl in the first place.
Michael Boyle	{8 votes}	January 25th, 2007
Truly a Shame     I don't think that the prevalence of internet radio or any other kind of new media should be used to explain the so-called irrelevance of Brave New Waves. I spent my teens riveted to the radio, listening to CISM and CKUT and CIBL. Remember when Claude Rajotte makde CHOM so much better than what it is now? The same applied to CBC Radio 2. Patti Schmidt is a wonderful host and there is nothing like listening to someone with an engaging voice and authentic enthusiasm for the music she play. Certainly no other large radio station with the CBC's breadth will be able to create a show as diverse and eclectic as this one. CBC is making all the wrong decisions out of sheer desperation.
Andree-Anne Boisvert	{11 votes}	January 25th, 2007
BNW     It's hard to imagine what could replace BNW. Anything that doesn't go the distance it goes isn't worth replacing it with, and I don't know what could possibly go beyond it. The show would be at the apex of it's genre if it hadn't developed into being in a genre all it's own. Patti is a brilliant, informative host and great interviewer.
Terence Love		February 7th, 2007

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