Compass on Compass

I just finished taping a short segment for tonight’s Compass about the change back to calling the show Compass. It’s all very Möbius loopy. Ironically, I’ll be on a plane to New Hampshire when the first reborn hour-long show airs tonight, so I’ll have to watch on the Internet once I get to the Jack Daniels Motor Inn in Peterborough.

Comments

Peter Rukavina's picture
Peter Rukavina on February 20, 2007 - 03:33 Permalink

Alas the streaming video of Compass is stuck on last Friday’s episode, so I’m left unable to watch the initial rebranded episodes. The website has been rebranded though. Did anyone in PEI watch?

Sandy Nicholson's picture
Sandy Nicholson on February 20, 2007 - 14:44 Permalink

Our family watched! Great to have Compass back. Riley and Bailey were very excited to see you. Hopefully, you will get lots of orders for your t-shirt now!

Marian's picture
Marian on February 20, 2007 - 16:06 Permalink

I wouldn’t mind being able to see you on TV, Peter. Sorry the show isn’t available online.

Peter Rukavina's picture
Peter Rukavina on February 20, 2007 - 17:27 Permalink

Sources inside the Compass organization confirm that the web version didn’t happen, and won’t happen. Technical problems. Perhaps something like “if ($showname == “CBC News at Six for PEI”) then MakeRecordingForWeb” ?

Peter Rukavina's picture
Peter Rukavina on February 21, 2007 - 03:59 Permalink

Ack — night #2 of Compass and again no web version.

Kevin's picture
Kevin on February 21, 2007 - 06:15 Permalink

It would have been nice to hear CBC admit that clobbering Compass in the first place was a huge mistake. That Robert Rabinovitch personally oversaw the destruction, and that dozens of Islanders (self included) headed up huge protests at the time to try to get a message through to them but were ignored. What’s wrong with OUR CBC saying out loud that “we were wrong” and perhaps, “we’re sorry” and perhaps, “and Mr. Rabinovitch doesn’t work here any more”?

CBC has gone from being a serious news and current affairs enterprise to something like Breakfast TV since then. I am continually astonished at the intense need to dumb down almost every topic. If a person uses a sentence with a subordinate clause it’s just TOO HARD for Barbie and that means the public broadcaster can’t put it on the air. Frequently a story is done and The Question is left unasked. (And while I’m at it I might as well get in a pet peeve: when discussing what government programs cost, or what savings will be realized by a given measure, don’t leave out the “per WHAT”. “The new initiative will cost three-quarters of a million dollars.” Per what? Per week? Ever? Over the lifetime of the project? How long is that? Everyone who runs a lemonade stand knows that costs and profits are always PER something. Half the time the reporter or commentator simply leaves it out — which would be fine if CBC, and all broadcasters, would agree on some default value that I could plunk in on m own — easier to just say it, huh?)

I don’t blame the on air “personalities” (a term I loath) for this saccharinization but sure would appreciate their help in putting a higher percentage of useful content on the air. Heck, lately we’ve had “trivia” contests in which you’re not allowed to get a wrong answer! No wonder they have to beg for callers to participate… just being associated with such drivel for a few seconds is more than thinking Islanders can tolerate.

And so Compass is back, at least in name. Let’s hope that bespeaks a trend not an end.

slash_and_cut's picture
slash_and_cut on February 22, 2007 - 04:10 Permalink

I dunno if you can totally blame Rabinovitch. I remember mailing Sheila Copps at the time and she seemed pretty non-plussed about the entire ordeal. Of course she and her bureaucrats were taking their marching orders from Paul Martin, who was trying to out-neo-con Preston Manning and continue Brian Mulroney/Michael Wilson’s little manifest destiny….. so, the trickle down economics hits CBC, and then it trickles down and eventually hits CBC Prince Edward Island. ‘Nuff said… (and it sucked then and sucks now). Bring back the full slate of reporters we lost too.