Compass on Compass

Peter Rukavina

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

Submitted by Sandy Nicholson on

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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!

Submitted by Peter Rukavina on

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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” ?

Submitted by Kevin on

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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.

Submitted by slash_and_cut on

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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.

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Photo of Peter RukavinaI am . I am a writer, letterpress printer, and a curious person.

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