They brought you the news, but where are they now? The news on several once famous names in both Toronto and Buffalo is sometimes scarce. It’s remarkable to think how many of the following people were in almost everyone’s living rooms every night, back when daily newscasts were a hotter ratings commodity than they are now.
 
But how many of them do you remember and whatever happened to them?
 

 
The last I heard of Kate Wheeler, she was hosting a podcast with another former CFTO anchor, Christine Bentley. It’s currently airing on the weekends on CFMS-FM, the Markham radio station known as The Region 105.9. She’s also a professor and lecturer at Durham College and previously worked at CHEX-TV. She sadly became infamous after becoming the victim of a random stabbing attack, which she thankfully survived.
 
 

 
The late, great Peter Jennings was well known as the Canadian who fronted a U.S. TV nightly newscast for ABC from 1983 until his death from cancer in 2005. But how many remember his original kick at that can? Jennings was a relatively inexperienced reader when the same network made him their sole anchor way back in 1965. Above is an ad for it featuring a baby-faced Jennings, along with Irv Weinstein’s local news, when both aired on WKBW’s channel 7 in the mid-60s.
 
Jennings was ridiculed for his inexperience and later admitted he wasn’t ready for the position. But he was smart enough to leave, become a seasoned overseas correspondent and then returned to the newsdesk as a well-learned knowledgeable newsman who earned the respect of his peers. But it didn’t start out that way, and he remains probably the only American anchor who was ever given that rare second chance.

 

 
Who were Lin Eleoff and Mike Ongarato? The former was actually a long time CFTO/CTV employee, joining the station in 1984 and not leaving until 1996. Mike Ongarato came to channel 9 from Sudbury around 1986 and I’m not sure if it’s the same person, but I believe he’s now the longtime promotion manager for Rogers. (And I’m told he’s also the guy who used to do all those, “The one thing in your kitchen that could kill your children” promos for CityPulse that became almost a cliché a few years ago.)

 

 
Sticking with CFTO, Joe Mariash was an anchor for the station’s World Beat News in both the 60s and 70s. He died in 2013 at the age of 74.

 

 
Mike Duffy was a well respected newsman. And then he was appointed to the Senate. The rest is history.

 

 
John Dawe was a Global anchor for 14 years, before moving on to similar duties with the CBC. He’s currently listed as an “Independent Writing and Editing Professional” on Linked In.
 
Mike Anscombe did similar duties for the network from 1974-1997, before starting a career in sports.
 
And Bob McAdorey was a former CHUM jock who became a beloved figure on the network. He died in 2005.

 

 
Tom Jolls was the longtime weatherman for WKBW during its glory (read: Irv Weinstein) years. But he may be even better remembered by many here as “Commander Tom,” his afternoon kids show. He did the latter for 26 years. But he told Buffalo residents which way the wind was blowing for even longer – forecasting the future for an amazing 34 years, before retiring in 1999. The picture above was of a very young Jolls back in 1967.   

 


This one goes back a very, very long way – to 1956, to be exact, just two years after WGR-TV first signed on. I don’t know a lot about Roy Kerns but Pat Fagan did double duty as host of a teenage music show called TV Dance Party, a kind of local Buffalo version of American Bandstand.

  

 
And finally, Kevin Frankish? Never heard of him and there’s no word on whatever happened to him after he left CKVR. Obviously, he never amounted to much!