CBC Barbados

“Wha kinda Chinee foolishness this is CBC showing tonight? Ya cann even undastan wha duh saying. Chupse!”

This has been bugging me for a while.

Having been away from living in Barbados for so long, for me it’s always difficult to judge various bajan institutions without the added bias of my years living abroad somehow working its way into my analysis.

I can sometimes find myself criticizing stuff because its not like what I have grown accustomed to, living in a so-called first world country, which really isn’t fair to Barbados. So given that I know that I have a bias I usually keep most of my thoughts to myself and grit and bear it through terrible customer service or try not to comment on some of the convoluted bureaucratic situations I have found myself in in Barbados and just chalk it up to well this is how it is in Barbados.

However coming home at least once or so every year or two over the past 20 years (and recently I think I’ve made about 7 trips in 3 ½ years now) and watching a certain institution deteriorate I believe in all honesty and without bias I can say that the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) TV 8 station is absolutely terrible.

Over the years I have watched as programming has basically come to a stand still on this station. The only reason to watch it is literally the local news, although to be fair they have been trying to add some local programming. It would however be nice if 95% of the local programming did not consist of moderated talk shows with so-called experts. I mean I know bajans love to talk and talk shows may be cheap to produce but let’s put in an effort and add some other shows to the station.

As someone who grew up with just CBC TV as the only station available in the household back in the 70s and 80s I have watched over the last 10-15 years as it has evolved into the Days of our Lives station. I was speaking to a friend from St Vincent this week who said when he first moved to Barbados he was shocked at how integral to bajans Days of Our Lives is with not only women but a fair amount of men watching as well. And the thing is we’re not even up to date on the show. The series currently showing in Barbados is at least 10-20 years behind schedule.

Days of our lives used to be shown every evening for ½ hr to an hour before the seven o’clock news but now CBC showing repeats, running the week’s past shows on Saturday afternoon. It’s like all Days all the time.

And pardon me for expecting a TV station to stick to its schedule. Aside from the news and the constant breaks for the numerous nightly lottery draws it appears as if CBC can never tell you correctly what will be shown after 8 o’clock each night. If the schedule says something will show at 830pm well maybe it will but most times if shown it will probably start later and sometimes it is never shown at all. It’s almost like they just show what they like when they like or its luck of the draw. What show can we find to play tonight? This to me is totally unacceptable. Why is it every other TV station worldwide can stick to a schedule but not CBC? Am I being too harsh here? Is it too much to expect that if you tell me Big Bang Theory will show at 930pm on Thursday night it actually is shown and at the time scheduled.

And yes I know that it is possible to pre-empt shows from time to time but the failure to stick to schedule occurs every single night almost without exception. I also know sometimes on occasion you might have one schedule in the newspaper but show something else because things may have changed between print time and show time but CBC usually shows their remaining after news schedule at some point in the evening around the news time and even that updated schedule doesn’t match what actually shows later.

And now lawd ave mercy they showing Korean soap operas. Really? Yes I know that we recently have a greater proportion of Asian emigrants here in Barbados but Korean soap operas with subtitles? Are you guys serious?

That said my favourite part of watching CBC the past two weeks has not been the CBC weather news blues (heaving, moaning and groaning possibly from something pornographic filtering through as the weather news was being shown last week) but has actually been the bizarre ads showing last weekend for some random morning/afternoon talk show

“Yolanda you’ve never seen your Vagina?”

“I’ve seen it but I don’t purposely look at it”

“Why not?”

“They are just not that attractive.”

Yea I probably should have watched the show just to put the statements into context but the and just seemed to be begging for attention.

Oh and watching Rosemary Alleyne (a rather hefty lady) moderate a show on obesity during which the first caller exclaimed something to the effect “All fat people don’t have diabetes and hypertension. Rosemary I don’t believe you have diabetes and hypertension.” Watching Rosemary’s face was priceless.

Anyway one of my friends has a theory that CBC channel 8 is deliberately bad to force us all to get the paid satellite multichoice TV offered by the same company. After years of watching Channel 8 show so much nonsense I tend to agree.