''The Roundup'' was a weekday afternoon program on the Radio One network of the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...

from 1997 to 2005. Heard weekdays from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. (2:30 to 4:30 in

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

), the show mixed music with calls and letters from listeners which were often comic in nature, feature interviews, and content previously produced and aired by other radio programs, initially other CBC programs but later including content from other radio networks around the world. The show was originally hosted by

Bill Richardson William Blaine Richardson III (November 15, 1947 – September 1, 2023) was an American politician, author, and diplomat who served as the List of governors of New Mexico, 30th governor of New Mexico from 2003 to 2011. He was U.S. ambassador to ...

and called ''Richardson's Roundup''. It was created in 1997 to replace

Vicki Gabereau Vicki Gabereau (born May 31, 1946) is a Canadian radio and television personality, best known for her longtime association with CBC Radio and her television talk show which aired on CTV from 1997 to 2005. Biography Vicki Frances Filion was born ...

's afternoon show after she left to do a television show with CTV, and premiered on September 1, 1997 from the studios of CBU in

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. The show also occasionally aired scripted

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, dramatised, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the liste ...

s. ''Test Drive'', a six-episode drama aired in 2001, starred

Gordon Pinsent Gordon Edward Pinsent (July 12, 1930 – February 25, 2023) was a Canadian actor, writer, director, and singer. He was known for his roles in numerous productions, including ''Away from Her'', ''The Rowdyman'', ''John and the Missus'', ''A Gift ...

as Earl Hughes, the owner of an independent

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...

dealership whose test drives of vehicles with potential customers inevitably devolved into comedic chaos, while a 2002 drama, Paul Ciufo's ''On Convoy'', centred on servicemen in the

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and aired as part of a special slate of

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programming. Richardson left in 2004 to launch the new weekend series ''

Bunny Watson ''Bunny Watson'' was a Canadian radio program, which aired Saturdays on CBC Radio One and Sundays on CBC Radio Two."Connecting with Bunny Watson". ''Vancouver Sun'', July 10, 2004. Named for Katharine Hepburn's librarian character in the movie '' ...

'', and

Tetsuro Shigematsu Tetsuro Shigematsu (born 1971) is a playwright/performer, filmmaker, comedian, and Canadian radio broadcaster. He was the final host of CBC Radio One's former afternoon series '' The Roundup'', where he replaced Bill Richardson in 2004, making hi ...

, an occasional guest host, became the new permanent host of ''The Roundup''. In 2005, the show was cancelled and replaced with ''

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''.

Sad Goat

The show's phone number for song requests and listener commentaries (723 4628) was to be 1 888 RADIO2U, but when they realised how cumbersome that would be to explain, they looked for alternative spellings. Richardson discovered that the number spelled out the phrase "sad goat", and 1-888-SAD-GOAT was born. A goat named Sadie became the symbol for the show and the concept was elaborated on from then on. In 2003 Richardson published the book ''Dear Sad Goat'', a compilation of listener stories submitted to the program.

Critical response

In 1999, columnist

Paula Simons Paula Simons (born September 7, 1964) is a Canadian senator. She previously worked as a journalist and was a columnist for the ''Edmonton Journal'' in Edmonton, Alberta. She sits as a senator representing Alberta in the Senate of Canada, and is p ...

wrote that "Bill Richardson deserves every credit for patching together a program to replace abereau armed with little but chewing gum, bailing wire, and his own ingenuity. Richardson's Roundup is a pastiche of reruns and previews, woven together by the gossamer strands of Richardson's considerable charm. It's a clever conjuring trick, a recycled remix of snippets, sound bites and segues that fills two hours so pleasantly, you hardly realize how empty it all is. Gabereau's provocative, irreverent interviews made us laugh and think and argue. The Roundup's low-budget fluff is as irrelevant and ephemeral as dandelion down."

, "CBC has pulled the plug on quality radio". ''

Kingston Whig-Standard ''The Kingston Whig-Standard'' is a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. It is published four days a week, on Tuesday and Thursday to Saturday. It publishes a mix of community, national and international news and is currently owned by Postm ...

'', March 4, 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roundup, The CBC Radio One programs 1990s Canadian radio programs 2000s Canadian radio programs 1997 radio programme debuts 2005 radio programme endings