End of an era in local TV
Anchor Dan McLean wraps lengthy career at CHCH
Mark McNeil
The Hamilton Spectator
(Dec 12, 2008)
His deep throaty voice has become as familiar in Hamilton as dust clouds over the city's steel mills.
But today at the end of a 6 p.m. television newscast, Dan McLean will sign off for the last time, ending a 28-year career as anchor at CHCH News.
McLean, 61, had been in negotiations with the station's management in recent weeks and "it became apparent that perhaps now is the time to step back and they go in whatever direction they are going to go in and I go in whatever direction I am going to go in," he said.
CHCH spokesperson Rebecca West said a decision about who will replace McLean "has not been finalized." But speculation is that anchors Nick Dixon and Michelle Dube will fill the void.
The departure of McLean comes after layoffs that saw on-air host Connie Smith leave and about a dozen other jobs eliminated. After restructuring and some rehirings in other departments, the number of people out of work is down to nine, said Nick Garbutt, president of Local 1100 of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, which represents workers at the station.
"We're not getting as many stories covered as we used to," he said. "I firmly believe that local management has the best interests of the station at heart. But decisions are being made in Winnipeg (by parent company Canwest Global Communications), and that concerns the employees in terms of job security and value to the viewer."
Canwest has been making major cuts in its media holdings to try to improve its beleaguered bottom line, and company head Leonard Asper was recently quoted as saying the amount of local programming produced by CH television was unsustainable.
"We're doing 35 hours a week in places like Hamilton and Victoria," the industry website Cartt.ca quoted Asper telling analysts in a conference call. "There's going to be a new norm in the obligations."
McMaster University sociology professor Imre Szeman said, "It is a real shame what Canwest is doing. I hope the (broadcasting regulator) CRTC will be strong in putting the onus on Canwest to maintain its local programming."
McMaster mass communications expert Graham Knight said he feels a void in local community coverage on television might be filled by new digital media offerings.
"The traditional role of television is changing. When something shrinks, it opens an opportunity for web-based alternatives to emerge," Knight said.
Councillor Bob Bratina, who is also a radio broadcaster at CHML, said, "They are not good changes at CHCH from a city perspective and I think things are going to get worse.
"Your credibility as a broadcaster loses somewhat when you get rid of people like Dan McLean.
"Everyone has to go at some time, but I am not sure that this is Dan's time. He still plays a prominent role in the community and has a level of respectability that someone else will have to work on for many years to attain."
McLean began at the station in 1971 as an announcer doing commercials and other voice parts. He moved on to host afternoon shows before being handed the anchor job in 1980. He said he will remember working with on-air personalities such as Tom Cherington and long-time anchor Norm Marshall.
McLean plans to work at marketing and public relations projects as well as on documentary films and educational television and to continue his community work.
"The future is something that I am looking forward to and Hamilton certainly hasn't seen the last of me yet."
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