[1] Initially conceived as a magazine-style show on all aspects of popular culture,[2] the show gradually narrowed its focus to concentrate almost entirely on musical culture, showcasing music from many different genres through documentary features on musical history, feature interviews with influential musicians and recordings of live concert performances.
[2] The first episode of the CBC Stereo show was devoted to the history of Canadian country music, featuring artists such as Don Messer, Hank Snow and La Bolduc.
The show faced some criticism for a 1979 episode devoted to the comedy of Monty Python.
[3] Initially planned to centre on an exclusive preview clip from the troupe's then-forthcoming film The Life of Brian, the CBC responded to the clip's potentially controversial religious humour first by blocking the episode from airing at all in the show's early afternoon time slot on the Radio network, permitting it to air only in the later evening Stereo timeslot; then by censoring the clip down to less than half of its original length; and finally by simply blocking the entire episode from airing on the network at all.
[4] The show was hosted by a variety of network personalities, until being taken over by Stan Carew in the mid-1980s.