Bruce Rainnie to leave Compass in April

After 13 and a half years of delivering news to Islanders on CBC News: Compass, Bruce Rainnie will be saying goodnight for the last time on April 28.

Rainnie announced Thursday he has accepted a job as the executive director of the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame.

"I've had a tremendous time here. I've loved it here," he said. "I've loved the show;the relationship with [Kevin] "Boomer" Gallant has been off the charts, both on air and off."

'A good opportunity'

Still, he said the offer of the new job was one he couldn't turn down.

"This seems like a milestone fork in the road, a good opportunity," he said.

"All I've ever read in my life outside of John F. Kennedy books are sport biographies," he joked. "It is a passion of mine."

Rainnie said his new "self-imposed mandate" will be to make the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame a premier museum destination in the Maritimes.

"Sports history in the Maritimes, and certainly in Nova Scotia, it's about humility, right? None of these people have ever done it to get glory, but they deserve the glory," said Rainnie.

"If you can teach young kids that humility can be part of your equation going forward that's a pretty good job for the next 10 to 15 years."

'Great memories'

Rainnie has been with CBC since 1995. In addition to hosting CBC News: Compass, he is known for his work with CBC Sports, and has covered several prestigious sporting events, including seven Olympic Games.

He said he will look back on his time with CBC fondly and without any regrets.

"If you can leave a job and feel that you don't owe it anything and it doesn't owe you anything, I think you're in an awfully good place," he said.

"I'm going to have great memories of my time here. It was a wonderful chapter in my life. I'll never, ever forget it."

Keeping a connection to P.E.I.

Rainnie added that he will be keeping a property on the Island.

"That tells you how much I like it," he joked, referencing the fact that non-residents pay higher taxes.

Rainnie begins his new job on May 1. The process has begun to find the next host of CBC News: Compass.

"I think everybody's going to be fine, including Boomer. It's just going to be a change," said Rainnie. "Compass has a deep rooted history here on the Island. It's going to be just fine."

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