TORONTO – The man ultimately responsible for what you’ve seen on the CBC for almost a decade has decided to call it quits.
CBC announced Wednesday evening that Slawko Klymkiw (right), executive director, network programming, has stepped down after 25 years with the Corp. and nine as head of English television programming.
While speculation will likely run rampant over the reasons for his departure, he insists it wasn’t because of the current lockout, adding the move has been coming for a while. “Nine years is an extraordinarily long time for anyone to be the Program Director of a major network. It’s been clear to me for some time that it was time for me to move on,” said Klymkiw in a statement.
It could be that he wasn’t up for the strategy shift beginning at the CBC under new TV executive vice-president Richard Stursberg. (Plus, the lockout has the potential to ruin CBC’s new fall season, which Klymkiw built.)
During the Corp’s fall programming launch, Stursberg said the national broadcaster will become much more ratings-conscious and shift away from things like one-off entertainment specials in favor of new drama. He talked of it being a four to five year process of building ratings for popular and populist Canadian TV
In June, Klymkiw told www.cartt.ca in an interview that he was up for that challenge and looked forward to the shift.
However, when Harold Redekopp stepped down from the EVP TV position that Stursberg eventually got, Klymkiw was one of the candidates for the job – and he wanted it – but was passed over.
While he hasn’t said where he’s headed, it’s not off to a beach. “Recently, an opportunity presented itself for me to take my career in quite a different direction, and give something back to the industry in a way that I hope will leave a lasting legacy in terms of developing future talent in this country. You’ll be hearing more about that very soon,” said Klymkiw in a statement.
According to the cbc.ca web site, he could be headed to the Canadian Film Centre as executive director.
“I wish he weren’t leaving, but I respect his decision and I wish him nothing but the very best in his future endeavors,” said Stursberg in a statement. “I also think his new employers are very lucky to have him.
“I had the good fortune to work with Slawko quite closely in various capacities over the years before I came to CBC, so I already knew his strengths and counted him as a good friend. In the past year, since I became executive vice-president, Slawko has been unfailingly loyal and supportive, energetic and imaginative, bold and outspoken, passionate and committed to the cause of CBC Television and the new strategies and directions we’ve worked together to establish and implement. No Head of Service could ever ask for a finer Program Director at his right hand,” Stursberg gushed.
Klymkiw joined the CBC in Winnipeg and was an award-winning producer of supper-hour news shows there and in Toronto before joining CBC Newsworld. He rose through the ranks to head of news specials, senior executive producer of programming, and later as the head of the network. He became executive director of network programming for CBC Television in 1996.
Popular shows that Klymkiw greenlighted are many and include: Canada: A People’s History, The Canadian Experience, The Greatest Canadian, Shattered City, Random Passage, Trudeau, and H2O. Still to come this fall and in 2006 are features on Shania Twain, Walter Gretzky, Rene Levesque and a prequel to the Trudeau min-series.
“Everyone knows that Slawko is larger than life, a take-charge, can-do, go-to guy, experienced and decisive, with boundless energy and enthusiasm for his job. What not everyone knows is that he is a brilliant and subtle strategist and negotiator, a wise and sensitive counselor and confidante, a lover of the arts and the finer things in life. He is loyal to a fault, and has been a supportive mentor to countless people inside and outside the CBC. His love for public broadcasting is boundless and unmatched,” added Stursberg.
Klymkiw will leave at the end of this month with Eva Czigler becoming acting executive director of network programming.
“I have sincerely enjoyed working with Richard Stursberg over the past year,” added Klymkiw’s statement. “I believe in the directions he is taking CBC Television, especially the emphasis on more high-impact drama that will draw large audiences. I’m glad I was able to help him put this strategy together. I’m proud of all the wonderful programming we have in the can and in the pipeline to launch for Canadians as soon as the present work stoppage is behind us. I also feel very good about the role I was able to play in helping to recreate a separate CTF funding envelope for the CBC, because I know this will go a long way towards making our new drama strategy possible.
“There are so many of you that I also want to thank from the bottom of my heart, and I look forward to finding a way to do that, both individually and collectively, in the days ahead. At the end of the day, the CBC is its people, and you are the very best there is. It is humbling and gratifying to have had the opportunity to work so closely with so many current and past CBC folks, and to count so many of you as my dear, dear friends.”
– Greg O’Brien
