Front Burner

When Beyoncé took the stage at the 2016 Country Music Awards, alongside the Chicks, the racist backlash was immediate. 

Eight years later, she alluded to that experience when she announced her new album, Cowboy Carter. 

In recent years, we’ve seen some pushback against the genre’s whiteness. And with Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé is reminding us once again that at its roots, country music is Black. 

Today, music, pop culture, and politics writer Taylor Crumpton joins us to talk about how for decades, country music has been packaged for a white audience. And how that’s starting to change. 

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts 

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

This week, for the first time since the start of the Gaza war, the UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire. It passed after the U.S. abstained from voting, rather than using their veto power — as they did three times before. 

For many watching, it was a very big deal — and the strongest sign yet of a fracture in the long and special relationship the US has with Israel. But is it really?

Today the Guardian’s world affairs editor, Julian Borger, joins us to talk about that pivotal UN vote, and whether it’s just symbolic — or if it means something more.

Canada's inflation numbers have once again come in lower than expected, and are nearing where our central bank wants them. But to get here, the Bank of Canada has kept interest rates high to slow the economy.

So was it actually the Bank's rate hikes that brought inflation down? Is the sting of high rates worth the success so far? And how much further does inflation — and the economy — need to slow before the Bank drops rates? 

Armine Yalnizyan is an economist and the Atkinson Fellow On The Future Of Workers.

After a warm, dry winter, Albertans are preparing for what could be a devastatingly dry summer. Snowpack is low, reservoirs around the province are well below seasonal levels, and farmers are already anticipating a difficult growing season.

But this isn't a one-off. Experts say the multi-year drying trend is likely to continue, which will have major implications for water use in the province — the biggest of which is agriculture. Is the future of the province's biggest industry at risk? CBC Calgary's Joel Dryden explains what a deepening drought could mean for life in Alberta in the decades ahead.

On Friday night, gunmen stormed the packed Crocus City concert hall on the outskirts of Moscow, where thousands had gathered for a rock concert. At least 133 people were killed, making it the deadliest attack in Russia for the last 20 years.

ISIS-K, an ISIS affiliate, has claimed responsibility — although Russia is casting doubt on those claims.

Today, the CBC’s Briar Stewart takes us through what we know so far about the Crocus City Hall attack, and the many questions that remain.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

How did a handful of competitive foosball players in Montreal create the world’s largest online porn site? And what do a picturesque Dutch cabin, thousands of pornographic VHS tapes, and the subprime mortgage crisis have to do with it?

This is episode 1 of The Pornhub Empire: Understood. Hosted by Samantha Cole.

More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/Dey46feN

This week, the NDP introduced a motion to recognize Palestinian statehood. The negotiations went into the night with last-minute amendments made. Why did it get so messy? What ramifications could we see come out of the passed motion?

Plus, a growing number of provincial leaders are pushing for the Liberal government to cut the carbon tax, or to pause the scheduled increase for it in April. What might happen next?

Senior writer Aaron Wherry joins us from the CBC’s Parliamentary bureau.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Vanessa had her entire life put online during the 2000s “mommy blogger” era. She’s in her 20s now. And as she tells influence culture journalist Fortesa Latifi, her life was anything but glamorous.

The TikTok generation of child influencers is a multi-billion dollar industry. And with that money, comes concerns of exploitation.

Fortesa Latifi recently published a three part series and mini-doc for Cosmopolitan called “The Sharenting Reckoning”. She joins us to talk about it.

Ahead of its event at a Thornhill, Ontario synagogue, the “great Israeli Real Estate Event” seemed to list settlements in the occupied West Bank on its website – settlements which the UN and Canada consider a violation of international law. 

On March 7th, Front Burner’s team made their way into the event and confirmed the marketing of West Bank real estate.

So how did some real estate enterprises discuss properties in the West Bank? How did protesters outside the synagogue react? And what can their face off outside a synagogue tell us about how the conflicts in Gaza and the West Bank are reverberating in Canada? 

Front Burner host Jayme Poisson explains. 

From emergency landings to mechanical failures, airplane manufacturer Boeing has been in the news a lot recently. Earlier this year, a panel flew off mid-air on a flight, and just this month, a former employee turned whistleblower died while a key legal proceeding was underway.

So what exactly is going on?

Today, Washington Post reporter Lori Aratani on how Boeing went from being the crown jewel of the American aviation industry to being mired in a seemingly endless series of problems with their planes.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.