R.I.P. The NewMusic

12/02/08 6:49pm

by Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

MuchMusic has cancelled The NewMusic, one of its longest running programs.

The program was included in a list of cuts made last week by CTVglobemedia, the company that now owns MuchMusic. The show's production staff were given the boot along with more than 100 other employees.

"What else out there is like The NewMusic right now?" former NewMusic host Hannah Sung said on CBC Radio 1's Q program. "I just don't see anything like it.

"You can see interviews with bands online, you can see their videos online, but do you get that credibility, that kind of journalism involved, the archives? Do you get the collective knowledge that was passed on through the staff over 30 years?"

The NewMusic predates MuchMusic since it launched in 1979 as a flagship hour-long show on CityTV. It moved to Much when "the nation's music station" launched in 1984. At the time of its cancellation, the show had been shortened to a half-hour program that aired on Monday nights.

The show was created with the intention of it being a combination of music magazines like NME and Rolling Stone in a television format. It chronicled the Toronto independent music scene and profiled big name and up-and-coming acts that came to the city on tour, along with musical trends.

The program's first host was Jeanne Beker, who now hosts Fashion Television. Other alumni include: J.D. Roberts, who's now a CNN anchor; Daniel Richler, Mordecai Richler's stepson; Denise Donlon, who's now executive director of English-language CBC Radio; Avi Lewis, who's now a filmmaker and married to journalist Naomi Klein; music producer/artist Byron Wong; The Hour host George Stroumboulopoulos; Sung; and Hannah Simone, the show's last host.

The cancellation of the show means the only remaining programs on MuchMusic with any substance are Going Coastal and Narduwar The Human Serviette's interviews.

You can read CHARTattack managing editor Aaron Brophy's thoughts on The NewMusic's cancellation here.