Medium Rare was a Canadian radio program, which aired from 1987 to 1993. [1] produced and hosted by CHEZ's News Director, Ken Rockburn Ottawa, the program was syndicated to several radio stations across Canada. [2]
The program was a two-hour news and public affairs magazine show which aired on Sunday evenings, including features and interviews on politics, arts, literature and culture, [3] although the show was ultimately most noted for Rockburn's interviews with writers. [4] The program made Rockburn the only host in Canadian commercial, rather than public, radio ever to win three Nellies from the ACTRA Awards. [5]
After an April 1993 change in CRTC regulations meant that music-based stations were no longer required to air a minimum quota of spoken word programming, the program was immediately dropped from the schedules of all its syndicated stations. [6] It continued on CHEZ for two more months, before airing its final episode in June. [6] During this time Rockburn was a contender for the job of hosting TVOntario's literature show Imprint following the departure of Daniel Richler, although he was not selected. [4]
Rockburn published a book of interviews from the show, Medium Rare: Jamming with Culture, in 1995. [7]
He subsequently moved to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, where he hosted the television interview show Rockburn and Company and CBO's afternoon program All in a Day . [8]