 "Photo: Courtesy of Debra Arbec")
Debra Arbec has been a news anchor at CTV Montreal for almost nine years. Additionally, she produces "My Montreal", a weekly segment about the diversity of Montrealers. Arbec sits down with The Concordian to discuss life as a CTV journalist.
Before beginning your television career, what did you study and how did you end up at CTV?
Well, I was in sciences in Vanier College in CEGEP. I had the plan of becoming a doctor - I love science, but I hated math. That was the only problem. But then I took an elective, a humanities course, and then a creative arts course in documentary film and I absolutely fell in love with it. I just loved it. I loved the medium, I loved being able to tell somebody's story.
I never had any great dreams of becoming a journalist all through high school or the first part of CEGEP. It was just after taking this documentary course, that I thought, 'Wow, this is something that's really powerful.' So I switched out of sciences, much to the regret of my chemistry teacher who said 'You'll never make it! It's not a good decision.'
So I went into creative arts and I studied photography and film and then went to Concordia. But I didn't start out in broadcast; I started out in political science. I thought it was important to have a background in [politics before going into] journalism. I really wasn't that familiar with what programs were out there and what I needed to do. I wasn't sure. Was I going to be a journalist, was I going to do documentaries ? I knew I was going to tell stories, but I wasn't sure how. I was always interested in politics, so I started out there.
I did switch over, finally, to broadcast journalism at Concordia and graduated in that. Then I thought that I would get out into the world and start doing journalism and I found myself working in a clothing store. After I graduated, I couldn't get a job! I realized then, that it's really important while you're in the journalism program to do as many internships as possib le - I had done a few, but probably not enough - and to get working.
Was it more difficult for women than for men at that time?
I can't say it was a male-female thing. It was just that you get out of school and you just don't know what to do. What do you start to do? Sending out résumés. 'Ok, résumés, I don't really know. I have no experience other than the stories I have written in journalism school.'
And when I put a story together, it could take a whole week, whereas in the real world, it takes a couple of hours. So I sent out résumé after résumé after résumé.
Knocking at the door at CJAD radio week after week after week, I swear, Gore Sinclair, who was head of the news department there at that time, heard from me every single week. 'No nothing yet, nothing yet, nothing yet.' That's what I kept on getting. Finally, he called me up and said that he had an opening in the traffic department and I said 'I'll take it, I'll take it, I'll take it!' If I had to fold one more sweater…I couldn't stand it. So I started out in traffic on the morning show and afternoon show and then finally there was an overnight news casting position available and I got that. I was at CJAD for five years and while I was in traffic, I worked my five days a week, and weekends I would report for CJAD whenever they needed me. So at times, I was working seven days a week, just getting as many hours as I could.
Then I got the news casting job overnights, and then I got a call from the weather network, which is no longer here in Montreal. They were looking for a weather presenter/environmental newscaster, so I applied and I auditioned and I got the job. I had no background in TV, but I thought, 'Well, if I want to get into news - by that time I knew that I wanted to do TV News - then I would have to learn how to do TV.
Did you no longer wish to do documentaries?
At that point, in my fledgling career, there was no question. There was just no work for someone who really didn't have any experience. So I'd become a reporter/newscaster at CJAD in radio, but I really didn't have the experience to call up CBC or the NFB - which I had done and had been refused - and say 'Oh, I want to start working on documentaries .' So I really didn't have anything to offer. I had interned at CBC, I had interned here [at CTV] as well and it just didn't pan out at that point. Really, when you do intern, if you're lucky, you'll be put on the air, but it wasn't something that was done very often when I first started.
Now I've noticed that we are putting interns on the air, but when I first started it was a real rare occasion. When you just graduate from journalism school, you don't have the voice, you don't have the presence. It's something that you'll learn over time and experience gives you that ability. So at that point, I really didn't know what to do, other than learn how to do television. Because I thought, if I could learn TV, then I could tell stories.
If it wasn't as a documentary, well at least I could tell shorter stories, but I'm still doing what I want to do essentially. So from the Weather Network I ended up here and I now anchor the late show and I produce a piece a week, which is my version of a documentary - My Montreal. It's just a lovely way to express myself and tell stories about Montrealers.
Was My Montreal your idea or did someone suggest it to you?
It was something that the news director a couple of years ago approached me with, saying that she wanted to do a segment that talked about diversity in Montreal, but we weren't quite sure whether she wanted it to be hard news or more feature style. We've been able to incorporate both. It's just grown from there and it all depends on what comes up, what presents itself and that decides whether it's a harder news story or just something as light as a festival, but focusing on someone. What I tend to try and do is tell someone's story. I would prefer to tell stories through someone's eyes rather than as a whole.
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