For the 1500th Time:

This is the 1500th post on publicbroadcasting.ca - which is alot of hand cramps. I tend to use these milestones to talk about what has been and what is coming on the site except I'm not sure what's coming. I'm always thinking about ways to make the site better, but I don't have any big changes under development.

I'm also not sure about new writers. I had always intended that the site should have alot of writers contributing alot of perspectives, but it never really panned out. I have been accused, on a few occasions, of being too Torontocentric. I'm totally guilty, but then I'm in Toronto. I can't write with any authority about stuff going on in Edmonton or Halifax, or Hamilton or Vancouver. I've tried to get people to contribute from other places but for the most part it hasn't panned out. Dwight Williams has been doing some posts from Ottawa, but most contributors contribute rarely.

There are a few realities holding things back. One is that I have no budget. Publicbroadcasting.ca generates no revenue, nor is it likely to. If I had the money to hire writers I'm sure there would be more contributions. Personally though I write out of enthusiasm, not for money, and I'd hoped that there were other enthusiasctic people out there who might contribute. Most people though, who are that enthusiasctic already have their own blogs, so maybe, instead of trying to get new writers I should just keep adding to the aggregators.

The other reality is that there is just too much going on in this country to cover it all. It still amazes me that the press in this country (CBC, Star, Globe and Mail, CTV ...) devote so much time to international artists when none of them are even scratching the surface of what is going on all around them. Even CBC Radio 3, Chartattack and Exclaim, which focus exclusively on music, miss stuff all the time. What all of this means is that I can't imagine the number of volunteers or the size of the budget it would take to really do justice to arts and culture in this country (not to mention the forays into politics.)

At any rate, this is 1500, I'm sure 1501 will be along shortly and before you know it it will be 2000. I don't know what's next, but if you have any suggestions I'm always open to them.