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Expect the media furor over besieged former CBC broadcaster Jian Ghomeshi to continue for a while.

It has all the ingredients of a story for the Internet era: sex, violence, celebrity, and a $55-million lawsuit against the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Two women—author Reva Seth and actor Lucy DeCoutere—have publicly stated that Ghomeshi was physically abusive and that this wasn't consensual. Ghomeshi, on the other hand, has claimed that anyone who makes claims like this is lying.

But there's another side to this story that hasn't received nearly as much attention.

This concerns the focus of Q, which is the cultural-affairs CBC Radio program that Ghomeshi cofounded in 2007.

The show was clearly designed to attract maximum ratings even though CBC Radio doesn't carry advertisements.

This was abundantly clear to anyone who read The Tower of Babble: Sins, Secrets and Successes Inside the CBC (Douglas & McIntyre, 2012), which was written by the public broadcaster's former head of English-language services, Richard Stursberg.

"We liked the idea of moving Q into the [Shelagh] Rogers/[Peter] Gzowski slot, not only because it was an excellent show but also because the move would signal a shift in direction for the network," Stursberg stated in his book. "It would indicate that we were pursuing a more urban and more contemporary feel, along with a younger demographic."

According to The Tower of Babble, Ghomeshi urged Stursberg to give him the prized morning slot, telling the CBC mandarin, "Put me in. We'll move the numbers."

Stursberg then asked Ghomeshi if he thought he could beat Gzowski and Rogers.

"Yes. Guaranteed," Ghomeshi replied.

Stursberg described Ghomeshi as "so clever, so charming and so driven".

However, the program that Ghomeshi created could never be described as a pillar of Canadian culture.

Since going on the air, Q has featured an endless number of interviews with American entertainers and journalists, with the occasional commentator from the Guardian or other British outlets sprinkled in from time to time.

That's not surprising if the goal has been to get onto American public-radio stations and build an audience south of the Canadian border.

I've been astonished that CBC Radio's most ballyhooed cultural-affairs radio show has so little Canadian content.

The network papered over this by having Ghomeshi host the popular Canada Reads series, which featured books by Canadian authors.

This way, he could wave the flag and have something to point to if anyone complained that there was too much Roger Ebert and Billy Bob Thornton and not nearly enough Bard on the Beach.

But anyone who listened closely to Ghomeshi on Q would discern that there was very little content about arts and culture out of Vancouver, in particular, unless it involved something spectacular, like the collapse of the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company.

Sure, Vancouverites who are famous in the United States, such as Michael Bublé and Sarah McLachlan, appeared on the show, as did musician Dan Mangan. But as a listener, it seemed to me that there were 20 American or British guests before I would hear a single person from British Columbia on Q.

In 2012, I had a chance to interview Chris Boyce, CBC's executive director of radio and audio. At the time, I told him that I don't hear much Vancouver content on Q. (A notable exception was when Stephen Quinn was guest host and he featured Ryan Guldemond of Mother Mother.)

“I don’t think where a show is based is necessarily indicative how well it covers the country," Boyce replied.

It was a politically safe response, but Boyce must have known that Ghomeshi's pursuit of ratings meant fewer Canadian artists ever appeared on Q.

Now, Boyce finds himself at the centre of Ghomeshi's allegations of betrayal in his $55-million lawsuit against the CBC.

In the meantime, Q has scheduled a singer from Canada's Maritimes, Jenn Grant, on tomorrow's show.

That's a sign of progress. For the sake of Canadian culture, let's hope Q's producers pay more attention to what's happening in our country now that they're free of Ghomeshi's hard-driving desire for "numbers".

After all, this is the CBC.