Music Day on CBC:
More great content on multiple platforms
There won’t be enough hours in the day to take in all that Music Day on CBC has to offer on March 15. 2020 is the third year that CBC will broadcast the JUNOS since the awards show returned to the network after a 16-year-absence. To mark the homecoming, the national broadcaster instituted Music Day on CBC, a full day of programming that is designed to celebrate Canadian music on the day of the awards show. The corporation continues to expand its programming as well as viewing and listening options. “Even in the last three years we see more and more people consuming more and more content on the digital platform of their choice,” said Susan Marjetti, Executive Director, Radio and Audio, CBC. To feed this growing audience, CBC is making all Music Day on CBC content available on its streaming service CBC Gem and its new app, CBC Listen. Along with livestreaming, the platforms will offer the shows on demand. The programming includes a rebroadcast of last year’s CBC Music Festival, an all-canadian event with performances by and interviews with Toronto-based indie-pop band Alvvays, Québecois singersongwriter Coeur de pirate, and Indigenous folk hero Buffy Saintemarie. Other shows include CBC Music: JUNOS 365 Sessions, which features Canadian artists covering a past song from the Single of the Year category, and Inducted: Canadian Music Hall of Fame. The latter features recent inductees Jann Arden, Andy Kim, Cowboy Junkies, Chilliwack and the late Bobby Curtola retracing their roots to the people and places that helped shape their careers. Marjetti attended the inaugural Canadian Music Hall of Fame Ceremony Presented by Music Canada in Calgary. “What an incredible night,” she said. “We’ll be bringing that footage to our programming for the first time.” Just prior to the actual JUNO Awards ceremony, q host Tom Power will sit down with nominees and performers Daniel Caesar, City and Colour, Lennon Stella, and host Alessia Cara in a pre-show special. Radio programming includes recordings of Junofest Presented by CBC Music showcases of performers in this year’s classical and jazz categories, highlights from 25 years of award winners in the Indigenous category, recording of the JUNO Songwriters’ Circle Presented by SOCAN in association with Music Publishers Canada, and the JUNO Winners’ Circle. JUNO Songwriters’ Circle features nominees telling stories behind their songs and performing them in an unplugged format. The JUNO Winners’ Circle celebrates the winners from the awards given out the night before the broadcast at the JUNO Gala Dinner & Awards Presented by Music Canada with interviews, acceptance speeches and insight from host Tom Allen and CBC Music experts. Music Day on CBC is just one initiative of the broadcaster’s ongoing commitment to Canadian music. The JUNOS 365 Sessions, which features a Canadian artist covering a past JUNO winner, are recorded and uploaded year-round. Other year-round CBC initiatives include the CBC Searchlight Contest. An annual hunt for the country’s best undiscovered talent, the Searchlight Contest’s alumni include five of this year’s nominees: Nunavut’s Northern Haze (Indigenous Artist or Group of the Year Presented by APTN), Edmonton’s Nuela Charles (Adult Contemporary Album of the Year), Montreal’s Koriass (Francophone Album of the Year), Hamilton’s iskwē (Adult Alternative Album of the Year and Music Video of the Year Presented by Stingray), and Regina’s The Dead South (Traditional Roots Album of the Year). “Shopé won last year allowing him to participate in the Allan Slaight JUNO Master Class and other opportunities including playing at CBC Music Festival,” Marjetti said. “We want to find even more ways to be working with emerging artists, to make sure that we’re part of their ongoing development.” Steve Jordan, CBC’S new Senior Director of CBC Music feels the same way, she said. The broadcaster’s commitment to Canadian music starts in the classroom. Every fall the CBC, in association with Musicounts—the charity associated with CARAS and the JUNO Awards—holds the Canadian Music Class Challenge. The contest encourages music classes across the country to engage with Canadian music by covering a song from a pre-approved list. The students’ version can be note-fornote or a more creative interpretation. Once a performance has been recorded on video, CBC uploads it to CBC Music and Youtube. The winning classes in each category, and the special Passion Prize awarded by Musicounts, receive prizes towards their music program as well as a gold record plaque. The Challenge sees more entries every year, Marjetti says. “We’ve received beautiful emails from teachers in participating schools who say how much that event meant to those students and how encouraging it was to music students to keep studying, to keep learning. The dream is that these children of music classes may be on that stage themselves getting a JUNO award and that we may have played some small part in encouraging them to pursue music as a lifelong passion and career.” CBC TV, CBC Radio One and CBC Music will air The 2020 JUNO Awards on Sunday, March 15, beginning at 8 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. CT, from the Sasktel Centre in Saskatoon. Along with the TV and radio broadcasts, the show will be live-streamed on the free CBC Gem streaming service and the new CBC Listen app. For programming information, and the full Music Day on CBC schedule, visit Cbcmusic.ca/junos.