A Globe and Mail top 100 book of 2012

 

The ultimate CBC insider exposes the controversies, successes and dead ends of his time at the top.

 

In 2004, CBC television had sunk to its lowest audience share in its history. That same year, Richard Stursberg, an avowed popularizer with a reputation for radical action, was hired to run English services. With incisive wit, Stursberg tells the story of the struggle that resulted -- a struggle that lasted for six turbulent and controversial years.

 

Shortly after Stursberg arrived, the corporation locked out its employees for two months. Four years later, he signed the most harmonious labour contract to date. He lost the television rights for the 2010 and 2012 Olympic Games. He won the biggest NHL contract in history. He had unprecedented ratings successes. He had terrible flops. He enjoyed the best radio, television and online ratings in CBC's history. He fought endless wars with the CBC president and board about the direction of the corporation and ultimately was dismissed.

 

This is the story of our most loved and reviled cultural institution during its most convulsive and far-reaching period of change. It is for those who think the CBC has lost its way, those who love where it is, and those who think it should not exist in the first place.

RICHARD STURSBERG is a leading expert on Canadian media and culture, and an experienced cultural executive. He has served as Assistant Deputy Minister of Culture and Broadcasting in the federal government, president of the Canadian Cable Television Association, President of Starchoice and Cancom, chairman of the Canadian Television Fund, executive director of Telefilm Canada, and head of English language services at the CBC. He has been a board member of the Canadian Film Centre and the Banff Television Festival. His book on his experience at the CBC, The Tower of Babble, was named one of the best books of 2012 by the Globe and Mail. He currently advises various Canadian media companies and sits on the boards of Hollywood Suite and Digital Media at the Crossroads. He lectures at the Ryerson/York graduate program on media policy and is the President of PEN Canada. He lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Richard Stursberg's profile page

"Far from being a dry account of day-to-day business, this book provides an informative, and rarely flattering perspective of the confused inner workings of Canada's public broadcaster...Stursberg, despite being a first time writer, has a knack for story telling, and is able to effectively translate his experiences into a gripping and entertaining narrative...The Tower of Babble [is] a great pleasure to read and an excellent resource for anyone looking for further insight into the CBC."

Vancouver Weekly

"...in an entertaining memoir, [Richard Stursberg] dishes out the inside story of his epic battles..."

National Post

"Richard Stursberg's rage dominates his crackling autobiography -- as does his grief for the lost network's unfulfilled promise."

Globe & Mail

"Why read The Tower of Babble? It is a rare opportunity to see inside CBC management. It is an amazing look at one of the most controversial, confrontational characters to work in media in Canada. And it actually does provide many examples of what's wrong with our national broadcaster and the difficulties inherent in trying to keep it running."

The Canadian Journalism Project

"Stursberg's creativity rests in making things work. And that's the sense one gets from The Tower of Babble -- Stursberg really wanted the CBC to work, to be the best it believes itself to be, not because it should, but because Canadians needed it to be. So, while a tell-all -- the circumstances and atmosphere surrounding his end at CBC loom mysteriously over the book until the final chapter -- Stursberg doesn't come off vindictive. With his memoir, he's still trying to help save the CBC."

Telegraph-Journal

"To cut to the chase, the liveliest parts of The Tower of Babble, Richard Stursberg's anxiously awaited new book about his six turbulent years as head of CBC's English services, are the passages where he goes after his perceived enemies with a hatchet..."

Toronto Star

"Tower of Babble...fires several broadsides at the power brokers and 'chattering classes' who take a proprietary view of the public broadcaster, while at the same time providing highly readable accounts of his showdown with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman over the all important broadcast rights, his attempts to transform the CBC News department (which he describes in the book as 'Fort News'), and his continued attempts to make CBC relevant in a country where the majority of TV viewers prefer foreign programming."

Marketing Mag

"Stursberg, now a Toronto-based consultant, has written Tower of Babble, Sins, Secrets and Successes Inside the CBC, which spills beans on shenanigans he observed while in 'the job I had loved more than any other in my life.'"

Vancouver Sun

"...a breezy, insightful and unabashedly self-serving business-book-cum-memoir of his tempestuous tenure. He convincingly outlines just how difficult his job was, and succeeds in making you truly care about the CBC -- an impressive feat..."

Point of View

"By all accounts, Richard Stursberg is not one to mince words. Judging by his book, The Tower Of Babble: Sins, Secrets And Successes Inside the CBC, he's not one to hide from conflict or shrink from espousing unpopular views, either."

Calgary Herald

"Stursberg cooks up a book that will raise the blood pressure of his former employees and their many and well-spoken supporters across Canada...Lovers of a good battle story will be glad that he didn't [go gently]."

Winnipeg Free Press

"The Tower of Babble: Sins, Secrets and Successes Inside the CBC, is Stursberg's lively, one-sided account of his highly tempestuous time at the Mother Corp, which began with an employee lockout and ended with massive cutbacks due to the recession."

Toronto Star