I, along with many other CBC radio listeners, have developed a tradition of sorts over the years. Each Sunday morning, as we linger over our coffees and start our days in that lazy manner so befitting of the end of the weekend, we turn on our radios and tune into the CBC to be accompanied by the rich baritone voice, thought-provoking interviews, and dry sense of humour brought by Michael Enright to The Sunday Edition.

The Sunday Edition has been in its current form since the year 2000, and seems perfectly suited to the Sunday morning air of idleness and contemplation. It airs each Sunday on CBC Radio One from 9am-12 and the three hours of the program are filled with engaging interviews on topics ranging from the arts to politics, Michael's opening essay, as well as long-form documentary pieces.

Michael Enright has undoubtedly had one of the most distinguished careers in Canadian broadcasting, but he actually started off in print. As a young newspaper reporter he wrote for both the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail as well as a host of other publications. In fact, his first foray into radio didn't come until 1974 and didn't go exactly as planned. He came to the CBC to replace the beloved Peter Gzowski - who was moving to television - on the program This Country In The Morning. But after a year on the air, despite positive ratings, Enright was fired - supposedly for not being warm enough on the air. 

After the brief experiment in broadcasting, Enright headed back to the world of print, and held high level positions at both Quest and McLean's magazine. But in 1985, after a decade away, he returned to the CBC- first as the managing editor of radio news, and then in 1987 taking over as host of As It Happens, a role he would hold until 1997. 

Enright is also somewhat of an enigma. Although to CBC listeners he might be perceived as merely the learned bookish man who wears bow-ties, there are also aspects of his life that might come as a surprise to many Canadians. For example, he dropped out of high-school, has a penchant for motorcycles, and was strongly considering entering the priesthood as a young man.

In our conversation, we speak about his life growing up in Toronto, his beginnings as a newspaper reporter, as well as his thoughts on the state of journalism and public broadcasting in this country.

Listen to our interview with Michael Enright here.

It seems to be a normal pattern in the world of broadcasting that when a host takes on a new gig or show, the critics from very early on tend to deem them ill-suited for the position and almost uniformly find fault with their performance. "They're in over their heads!" they cry "They'll never possibly grow into the role."  This has been a pattern that has played itself out for even the most iconic broadcasters of our time, from Johnny Carson and Stephen Colbert to Peter Gzowski and Michael Enright.

But of all the CBC personalities that we've interviewed for this series, I don't think any were received with quite the level of raised eyebrows and doubts when they first came to the Mother Corp as George Stroumboulopoulos.

Indeed, back in 2005 when he arrived at the CBC with the launch of The Hour, the critics were seemingly everywhere - and none too thrilled. Their concerns ranged from doubting his abilities as a serious interviewer, to musings that this was a misguided attempt by CBC to attract a younger demographic at the cost of substance.

And to be sure, George didn't exactly have the background or style that one might expect for a host at a public broadcaster known for such figures as David Suzuki, and Linden MacIntyre. He loved heavy metal music, had a penchant for motorcycles, sported several piercings, and had just spent the past few years as a Much Music VJ - not a station necessarily known for its serious journalism.

In fact even George himself thought he was a questionable fit for the CBC, and after he somewhat hesitantly accepted their offer to host his own talk show, he fully suspected he might find himself off the air within a month or two, when they realized that they had made a terrible mistake!

But fast forward to 2013 and the beginning of George's 10th season on CBC and things certainly look differently. George has earned a loyal following of viewers across the country, and has proved himself as a thoughtful, sharp and insightful interviewer. And because of his diverse interests, he's incredibly well-rounded too, and can discuss intelligently topics ranging from music and film to politics and larger societal questions.

The program has won four Gemini awards for best talk series in Canada and the list of figures he's interviewed in the years since he first came to the CBC is truly remarkable. It includes the likes of Hillary Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Noam Chomsky, Patti Smith, Oprah, and virtually every renowned Canadian figure out there.

I spoke to George Stroumboulopoulos about his life growing up in a single parent household in the rough outskirts of Toronto, his unlikely path into broadcasting, and his thoughts on the importance of the CBC and the telling of Canadian stories.

Listen to ourinterview with Geroge here, and for more exclusive interviews with CBC personalities don't forget to subscribe to our podcast in iTunes!

One of the reasons I personally feel so passionately about the role the CBC and public broadcasting play in Canadian society, stems, I think, from the rather remarkable nature of our country.

It's an insight many of us grow up with, and can seem at times commonplace, but Canada is such a vast place - and not just geographically, but culturally as well. From St. John's, to Winnipeg, up to Iqaluit, we as citizens inhabit such an incredible diversity of regions, each with its own distinct culture, issues, and concerns, that there are relatively few things in our day-to-day lives to prompt us to consider issues from a Canadian perspective, instead of merely from our regional standpoints.

And seen in this light, it becomes clear that the CBC is one of the rare venues we have as a country where we can have national conversations between our disparate parts - where we can discuss matters confronting us as Canadians through a Canadian lens.

So a cultural institution as important as the CBC is more than simply another venue for news or entertainment - or at least it should be. Rather, it does something bigger, more profound. It creates a sense of community, it connects us to one another as citizens, examines issues of public interest.  Indeed, it's worth considering -  if it weren't for the CBC, and a handful of other national cultural institutions, what would Canada be in any sense richer than a name and a border? As Claire and Farley Mowat recently put it in a letter to The Globe and Mail  "The CBC is one of the few remaining public bastions of our independence as a nation and as a people."

But thankfully, we do have the CBC as a forum to bring us together as Canadians and consider matters from a national standpoint. And arguably, when it comes specifically to exploring the societal questions and politics of our time, no show comes closer to fulfilling this role than CBC Radio's The Current.

The Current is the most listened to CBC radio program by Canadians, and each weekday morning from 8:30 to 10 am, from coast-to-coast-to-coast, throughout the six time zones, The Current delves into the issues and debates of the day-  from pipelines and budgets, to world conflicts.

Since it was created in 2002, replacing, along with Sounds Like Canada, the three hour program This Morning, The Current has been hosted by veteran journalist Anna Maria Tremonti. Before coming to The Current, Anna Maria spent years as a national and foreign correspondent for the CBC, and reported from around the country and around the world.

It's one of the most important programs in the country, and in her over 10 years on the air as the host of The Current,  Anna Maria has interviewed many of the most prominent and influential voices of our time -  they include whistle-blowers, prime-ministers, artists, authors and activists - everyone from Kurt Vonnegut to Jean Chretain.

Recently I had the chance to wake up at the crack of dawn, and head down to CBC broadcast centre in Toronto myself to watch behind-the-scenes as an episode of The Current went to air. Afterwards, I sat down with Anna Maria Tremonti to ask her to  how she prepares for the show each day, her thoughts on the challenges facing journalism, and some of the memorable moments she's had in her over 10 years as host of perhaps the most influential current affairs program in Canada.

Listen to our conversation below, and many thanks to CBC's Nima Shams for recording the interview.

It goes without saying that few names are as synonomous with Canada as Peter Mansbridge. As the anchor of CBC’s flagship nightly news program The National, Mansbridge has been a fixture on screens across the country for now over 25 years, recounting the days events and telling the news of Canada and the world, through a distinctly Canadian lens.

So through elections, disasters, referendums, or world events, Peter Mansbridge has been there guiding us  through the stories of our time. 

Mansbridge started off his career as a broadcaster in a rather improbable way, with a level of happenstance that is almost hard to fathom today.  The story goes like this: as a young man, Mansbridge having hitchhiked and wandered across the country, was working at the Churchill Manitoba airport. While he making an announcement on the PA system, a CBC producer overheard him. Impressed with his rich baritone voice, the producer approached Mansbridge to see if he would be interested in helping out at the local CBC radio station. Before long, Mansbridge was hosting a newscast in Churchill, and few years later he was reporting nationally as a correspondent, and his career as one of Canada's best known television broadcasters was underway. 

Then, after reporting stints in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ottawa, in 1988, Peter Mansbridge took over anchoring duties of The National from the retiring Knowlton Nash. It's a role he has held ever since. 

In this wide-ranging interview recorded at his office at the CBC, we discuss his wayward childhood in Ottawa, debate the virtues of expert panels, and learn of the one interview he'd still most like to do.