[Vitoethiche]

Hey Morgan
You raise a good point. There is no doubt that musical knowledge or background alone would in no way be sufficient to make a good host or program and that there is a danger of alienating the general public with too much obscure information or 'challenging' content. These things are not mutually exclusive, though it takes real art and talent to combine them. Check out the BBC shows I mentioned to hear how a show can appeal to the lay-listener and to dyed-in-the-wool jazz people alike. For example, Alan Shipton’s Jazz Library recently featured a show on Cecil Taylor that even had my wife interested! He could put the music in a context and explain it in a way that made sense because he is not only musically literate but ALSO savvy to the listening habits and comprehension of Joe Public.

We already have shows (I’m thinking of ‘Tonic’) that present bits of jazz to the general audience in a completely bland and uncritical fashion in hopes of attracting new listeners. In my opinion, the quality and integrity of jazz and classical musical programming on CBC has been seriously watered down in the past few years and I hope Hot Air can maintain standards (especially in relation to programming of local artists) regardless of who hosts the program.

With regard to your ideas about interviewers….
When listening to radio interviews I am not a fan of the ‘naïve inquistiveness’ to which you refer. In fact I loathe it and find it embarrassing as a listener and as one being interviewed. I much prefer insightful intelligent questions from people with deep background knowledge and specific points of reference to the subject at hand. I suppose I am in the minority (again....). I was just watching a PBS re-broadcast of the famous Frost/Nixon interview and thinking that we very rarely see journalism of that level in the mainstream media nowadays. If you’re familiar with the interview, imagine how it would have gone if Frost had approached Nixon with mere naïve inquisitiveness or the ‘indiscriminate breathless enthusiasm’ Lazz so eloquently cites. This imaginary scenario is just like the real life one that plays out daily again and again on our beloved public broadcast network.

Of course I have no real idea of how Gallagher will do until I hear her. I’m certainly encouraged by your impressions of her and most sincerely hope Hot Air will keep rolling for many years to come.