CBC Marketplace expands to a full season after drawing large audiences in the spring
For four decades, CBC's Marketplace TV show has been exposing consumer ripoffs—and it appears that demand for this type of programming is on the increase.
Yesterday, I ran into the two hosts, Erica Johnson and Tom Harrington, at a meet-and-greet with broadcasters and executives at the CBC building on Hamilton Street.
Johnson, who lives in Vancouver, quipped that it was the first time they had "jumped" a reporter, but they had a story to tell me.
Normally, the program runs a half season from January to April. However this year, viewers will be able to watch 22 episodes over a full season, beginning on September 21.
"I have to give credit to the CBC because Marketplace is a show that's quite expensive to do relative to other programming," Johnson explained. "Investigative [journalism] takes time. It costs money. It's very litigious....They're backing us a lot."
It stands to reason, given the program's popularity with audiences. In its Friday night spot at 8 p.m., it attracted an average of 1.1 million viewers per episode over the past season, according to Harrington, who is based in Toronto. About half the time, it topped the ratings of all shows on the air in Canada in its time slot.
"We were the fifth-highest rated show on the network this past season," he said. "So clearly, we've dialled into something. There's a real need for this kind of journalism. There's a lot of dissatisfaction in institutions out there, and we're out there asking those questions and holding people to account."
When asked for his favourite show of the season, Harrington replied that it involved an exposé of home repairman. Producers rigged an entire house with hidden cameras to see what would happen.
"We had a very unscrupulous garage-door installer who peed in a bucket in the garage," Harrington recalled. "And then we had a dishwasher repairmen who did the job really well, but was so anxious to relieve himself that he took a coffee cup in the kitchen and used that to take a wiz."
At that point, Johnson interjected that she remembered him using a "peecup".
Harrington, a former sports reporter, joked that he thought it was the Olympics because there was so much peeing in a cup in that episode.
Johnson mentioned that her favourite story involved the use of a hidden camera in Lower Mainland hospitals to examine the link between poor cleaning and the spread of diseases.
"In Canada, 8,000 people a year die from infections they acquire while they're in the hospital," she stated. "And poor cleaning is one of the reasons that's happening."
She sounded pleased when she said that the Marketplace episode is now being used as a teaching tool in local hospitals. "They've gone back and revised their housekeeping budgets," she noted.
I mentioned that hospital-cleaning services were privatized in B.C. under former premier Gordon Campbell. (The deputy minister who oversaw that was Penny Ballem, now Vancouver's city manager.)
"They're still privatized," Johnson conceded, "but they're trying to work within that model."
Marketplace's audience has grown dramatically since it was moved into the Friday night spot, where it faces less competition. Johnson admitted that this surprised her, because originally, she feared the show might have more trouble attracting viewers at that time of the week.
"It turns out a lot of people are too tired to go out on Friday night and they tune into good programming," Johnson explained.
The show has also benefited in recent years from greater promotion on CBC's national radio and television newscasts.
Follow Charlie Smith on Twitter at twitter.com/csmithstraight.
Comments
4 Comments
Kay Douglas
May 15, 2012 at 2:44pm
Congratulations to Tom and Erica! They should never underestimate the contribution their Twitter presence has to making the show even better.
Ron Williams
May 15, 2012 at 8:35pm
I have been a fan of the show ever since Stompin' Tom Connors sang the intro, and that's a long time. ("Yes we are the people... running in the race...buying up the bargains in the old marketplace") I always said that your show should be required watching for every Canadian, it should be an hour long, and it should have a new episode every week of the year!
Keep up the good work, and thanks... GREAT SHOW!
Lois Lozon
Jan 19, 2014 at 7:32pm
This is a suggestion for a show . I have fallen arches and plantar fascitis from the initial condition. I have had to use Orthotics for 20 years approx. Accordingly I have had many experiences with purchasing orthotics including the act of forming the orthotic to fit the feet. This ranges from standing on a special machine with pegs to laying prone facedown and having a cast made of the foot at rest. These procedures indicate the formation needed to correct the over stretching of the fascia.
There are also many different makers of these initial measurements.ranging from technicians to Chiropodists. The average cost for these range from $175 to $450.00. Some doctors prescribe custom made shoes with an orthotic built in.
As far as wear is concerned some are only good for a year and this is not dependent on the cost.
It seems to me that there is a great deal of ignorance in the medical community regarding feet and problems with the feet.
I have been told that some makers of orthotic molds have only a week's training .
Then there are people unsatisfied by the efficacy of the orthotic.
Now this state of affairs may be satisfactory if one gets the right dr and therefore the correct method of molding and if your benefit plan covers the cost
of the orthotic.
When I first got orthotics they barely lasted a year,cost $450.00 and were only paid for by my benefits once every 3 years.
I have friends who were prescribed orthotics and found them ineffective as their foot condition did not need orthotics.
My sister has had several pairs of orthotics. Her orthotics are covered by disability pension but are not effective. So she won't wear them.
If this type of mis-diagnosis occurs often we, the taxpayer, get to pay for incorrect and ineffective orthotics.
Even the wealthy deserve to get correct diagnoses even if they can well afford the expense.
Please could you investigate orthotics? I think that only by demonstrating the sheer charlatanry of orthotic molders that corrections will be made.
Thank you.
Martin Dunphy
Jan 19, 2014 at 8:12pm
Lois:
I would suggest sending your idea in to Marketplace yourself. This is a fairly old post and your comment might not be seen by anyone at the show.
I think it is a very good idea and might expose some, let's say, deficiencies in the diagnosis of problems and the manufacture and marketing of such devices.