Freyburg

For once, the Three Who Rule were in total agreement that “Midnight,” the psychological thriller/Donna-lite episode of this season’s Doctor Who, was a fine bit of viewing. That left us with little else to do besides mock Who overseer Phil Collinson and engage in many a ridiculous digression, as per usual. Next week, Rose, dead Doctors, and atomic weaponry. Allons-y!

 

 Radio Free Skaro #87 - Midnight Express: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (83)

My non-Canadian readers may not be aware of it, but Canada’s media industries have long worked under the yoke of CanCon, a government policy that states TV and radio stations must play “X” amount of Canadian content if they want to play other, predominantly American, shows and music that people actually want to watch and listen to. There are several flaws in the system, not the least of which is that is if a Canadian artist becomes a huge success, like Celine Dion or Bryan Adams, their work is no longer considered “Canadian.” Actually, given the suckitude of both those artists, maybe that isn’t such a bad policy.

At any rate, Cancon regulations created a myriad number of terrible bands who would have otherwise never been heard of, and recent successes like the Montreal indie music scene have more to do with file sharing and Myspace than they do with cultural policy.

So it’s amusing to me that a bunch of Canadian artists want to regulate the internet in order to make sure online content created by Canadians doesn’t get buried under a deluge of American content. It seems like they’re fighting the last war, when scarce space on the airwaves meant there was only so much room for content to be seen. With the internet, those conditions no longer apply. Speaking as a content creator myself, I know most of my (small) fan base isn’t even in Canada, but rather in the US, England, and Australia.

Amusing, but shocking. Try to keep up, whiny Canadian artists. While you were begging for grants and throwing derisive glares at those of us who don’t make experimental tone poems on Super8 film, the world passed you by.

Yes, for only the second time in Radio Free Skaro history, two of the hosts of the show were in the same place at the same time, huddled around a single computer in Edmonton. Of course, with the inclusion of the Third Guy, we still used the invisible tethers of the Internet to connect to London, and those tethers eventually snapped, leaving him relaying his messages to us via telegraph and carrier pigeon for the final minutes of the show. But despite the technical difficulties of both this week and last, we pressed on, bringing you a bumper crop of news, sarcasm and a few selections from the Series 3 soundtrack for your listening pleasure. (feed, web, direct download)

What started as a grab bag of factoids and bon mots degenerated into repeated threats upon the Third Guy’s person as we came to grips the full force of our jealousy at his new home of London, England. Along the way we discussed much news, reviewed the newest Sarah Jane Adventure, and tried to figure out if the rumours of Peter Davison donning his old costume and joining with David Tennant for the upcoming Children in Need special were in fact true, only to have the BBC confirm it mere moments after our podcast. Still, jaunty banter and death threats for all. (feed, web, direct download)

Warren, Steven and Chris the Third Guy yandered on for a record-breaking 30 minutes before commenting on the Sound of Drums, the penultimate episode of Series Three and not a bad bit of adventure and mayhem besides. At the very least, it’s better than Last of the Time Lords, coming up next week. (feed, web, direct download)