News Release

06/15/2007
Smells Like Yukon undergoes renewal

WHITEHORSE (SLYwire) It’s not nearly as exciting as, say, the renewal of the entire Yukon government, but the Smells Like Yukon radio segment has been officially picked up for a second season on CBC North. New segments will air on a monthly basis starting in the fall of 2007, with the dates and time slot to be confirmed later.

The renewal eliminates the need for Operation Enduring Arrested Development, by which special projects coordinator J.D. Sparkles would have incited all eight people in the Smells Like Yukon Members Club to burn their radios and inundate the CBC with pleas for the segment’s renewal.

“The plan was inherently flawed,” Sparkles admits. “A lot of people listen to the radio in their cars, so it might have been hard to torch one without torching the other. Also, most of the Club members only joined for the bunt cake that was offered as a welcome gift—and never delivered, I might add. I don't know how motivated they would have been.”

Now, the big question is what’s in store for the second season?

“Feedback from the CBC boiled down to two words: ‘Lighten up,’” says Sparkles, speaking now as Smells Like Yukon’s new programming director. “Essentially, there was some concern that Mark [Koepke] and Jesse [Devost] were trying too hard to tackle weighty issues that would be better left to hardened news reporters.”

However, Sparkles senses darker motives behind the request to tone things down.

“We suspect that CBC has been facing external pressure as a result of the first season,” Sparkles says. “There are those in the Establishment who fear the segments were getting too close to the Truth—and they’re desperate to prevent that.”

Never ones to stand on principle or journalistic integrity, Smells Like Yukon’s producers will happily cave to the broadcaster’s wishes. They also intend to make a few changes of their own.

“After carefully reviewing the content of the first eight segments, we'd like to present female and rural Yukon perspectives to our listeners on a more consistent basis,” Sparkles says. “I don’t want to give too much away, but that might require Mark to undergo a radical sex change and relocate to Pelly Crossing which, depending on your outlook, may be slightly more or less radical than the surgery.”

According to Sparkles, the one thing that will never change is Smells Like Yukon's fiery commitment to social justice.

“Granted, it’s kind of boring,” Sparkles says. “So, we may spin it into some sort of game show.”

-30-

For more information, contact:

Media & Public Relations Officer
Smells Like Yukon
Whitehorse, Yukon