Airwaves is a Canadian television dramedy series, which aired on CBC Television in 1986 and 1987.[1]
The Toronto-filmed show starred Roberta Maxwell as Jean Lipton, a radio talk show host and widowed mother, who lived with her daughter Zoe, played by Ingrid Veninger, and her father Bob, played by Roland Hewgill.[2] Maxwell has indicated that Canadian journalist-activist June Callwood was a basis for her portrayal of Jean.[3]
The show's cast also included Taborah Johnson, Alec Willows, and Kimble Hall.[4] Writers for the series included Judith Thompson, John Frizzell, Susan Martin, Rob Forsythe, Linda Svendsen and Paul Gross.[4]
Some of the early episodes were criticized as clunky, with Ross McLean of The Globe and Mail writing that the show seemed unsure of its identity,[5] and even the producers later acknowledging that they had tried to fit too much into a half-hour show.[2] The show was retooled slightly in its second season, with the writers getting a firmer grasp on the stories they wanted to tell and adding two new characters: Christopher Bolton in the role of Matt, Jean's nephew, and Patrick Rose as Dale, Jean's new coworker at the radio station.[2] Critics responded favourably to the changes, with even McLean himself noting by 1987 that the show had significantly improved.[6]
The show was modestly successful, with an average audience of 850,000 viewers per week in its first season.[2] and 761,000 viewers in its second.[7] Although the CBC was willing to order a third season, the producers decided to end the series as they felt it was better to move on to other projects than to continue tinkering with a show that wasn't getting the ratings they wanted.[7] However, CBC subsequently reran the first two seasons, outside of prime time, in 1990.
The series was repeated on Vision TV from 1989 to 1991.[8]