::alio!::

this is the end

of CBC Radio 2 as we know it.

It was hard to fight back tears today as I listened to the men and women of a Canadian institution become unwillingly silent. Some of them had trouble, too, as they signed off for the last time. The hardest one was Jurgen Gothe, host of my favourite DiscDrive. He's been doing the show for 23 years, so I've been listening ever since I came back from England in 1985. He's been the one continuous factor in my life as we moved across the country, and the final comfort as I finally left my family to come to Newfoundland. He was a link to home - a very comforting voice spouting out his odd tangents for over two decades. On the last episode today his producers did a review of the progression of DiscDrive over the years. It was very funny and very sad all at the same time.

I know that CBC is trying to gear its music towards younger listeners, but the fact is that younger listeners aren't going to listen to the radio, especially not the same radio station their parents listened to. Even if it's not full of classical music anymore. They're going to listen to their iPods, and if they want Top 40, they'll tune into a local radio station for that. The thing is, with cutbacks to education, kids aren't taught to appreciate classical music anymore. They view it as boring, not beautiful.

I grew up with CBC2 and classical music. It was always on in my house. Always. It's the first place I turn to when I want the news or something to listen to. And now it's over. It'll never be the same.