What happened to Canada's longest-running hip-hop radio show?

Last month, Canadian hip-hop lost one of its longest-running programs on community radio.

For 35 years, The Masterplan Show (later rebranded to Generation Next) was a weekly outlet for hip-hop fans. Every Saturday, the show introduced listeners to the latest rap music, and it made space for both Toronto hip-hop and Canadian hip-hop at large to get the attention it deserved.

But when the news broke that the Generation Next show had been cancelled, listeners were left with a lot of questions.

Today on Commotion, veteran culture critic Dalton Higgins joins host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to discuss the importance of the program's 35 year legacy, and what the cancellation could signal about the future of hip-hop on Canada's community radio airwaves.

Commotion reached out to CIUT-FM for comment. This is the response we received from Ken Stowar, a Station Manager & Program Director with University of Toronto Community Radio Inc.:

In regard to the cancellation of Generation Next:

First let me put forth a correction.  The Masterplan Show effectively ended in late 2023 early 2024 upon the departure of the host DTS (Dave Clarke). He left of his own accord after an investigation was being done regarding a formal complaint by a third party alleging certain improprieties. Philip Valino continued in the former Masterplan time slot with the program Generation Next. Therefore,  it was the Generation Next show that was taken off air, not the Masterplan Show. It had already concluded.

It was brought to my attention by a CIUT listener that they heard what they described as unacceptable language, etc. being broadcast on Generation Next on Saturday, May 10th. We then followed the process as we always do when we get an informal or formal complaint to determine if there was any validity to the accusation. What we discovered was an excessive amount of profanity along with misogynist messaging. To find out if this was an anomaly or not we began the exercise of auditing previous shows aired before May 10th where we discovered an identical pattern of excessive profanity and misogyny. Due to time constraints due to fundraising demands the May 17th and May 24th Generation Next radio programs subsequently aired and as we later learned with the same extreme foul language and misogyny; therefore relinquishing any possibility of any warning to Philip.

The final results of the programming audit were provided to me a few days after the conclusion of our fundraising initiative.  Several days later I made the decision to cancel Generation Next. It was apparent to me that a veteran volunteer of the radio station consistently abused their privilege as a volunteer and were potentially jeopardizing our broadcast licence.  The show host had previously been provided with the CIUT Team Handbook that in part discusses the issue of no profanity on air at all prior to 10pm as per CIUT rules and regulations. Therefore no warning was issued. As a veteran volunteer he was expected to know the rules although Philip claimed that he had never received the handbook. Then he later contradicted himself by saying the reason he did not sign it back was because he had issues with the intellectual property clause. Anyway, the evidence presented to me went way beyond 'f' bombs on air. Language and misogynist attitude, etc. was frivolous, with no cultural or educational value whatsoever. Misogyny messaging is not uncommon in hip hop and there is a fair amount of pushback regarding this matter, be it from feminist perspective or otherwise.

The primary function of the Station Manager's office is to protect the broadcast licence and to ensure that we are always in compliance with CRTC and CIUT rules and regulations. Hence after reviewing all of the audio evidence drawn from our programming audit I made the decision to immediately cancel the show in question and withdraw the volunteer privileges of the host. By their own actions and decision making about content that was presented on the show the host single handedly tore down the house that once occupied the Masterplan show. The show host illustrated a disregard to our audience and our broadcast licence.  The Masterplan show that came before Generation Next was an iconic and culturally significant show that was built by John Bronski and evolved to include such others as Motion, Power and Matthew Romeo. Individually and collectively they built the Masterplan show which was regarded as an iconic and important cultural entity.

The show host that was dismissed was provided with the opportunity to reapply and then to go through the proper channels for training, etc. They declined the offer. Our long standing commitment to hip hop culture remains intact and we look forward to introducing new hip hop programming as soon as possible to compliment the other hip hop shows that presently exist on CIUT.

Immediate dismissal of a station volunteer is not a frequent act, in fact it rarely happens. However, we have immediately dismissed volunteers for such activity as uncivil behaviour, commandeering the radio station studios, payola (asking for and accepting money from an artist in return for airplay), selling and broadcasting unauthorized advertising and pocketing the funds, breaking the criminal code on air, falsifying program logs and yes in the past for excessive profanity.

CIUT-FM takes compliance issues seriously. Toronto lost a sister campus radio station, specifically CKLN due to non-compliance issues. Go to the CRTC hearing archives where CKLN had to address all of its non-compliance issues. The hearing took place on December 8, 2010. Shortly thereafter their broadcast licence was revoked.

In closing, to the show host that lost their on air privileges I would ask him what he would say to all of the other 80+ show hosts on CIUT that comply with CRTC and CIUT rules and regulations.

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with Dalton Higgins produced by Ty Callender.