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January 6, 2020 8:39 am  #1


Ken Shaw's Final Newscast Is Monday At 6

A remarkable career comes to an end Monday night, as Ken Shaw vacates the co-anchor chair at CTV Toronto. He's been there for more than 40 years. He returns for the one day in January to be able to say he's been on air at the station in five different decades. Nathan Downer has been named as his replacement.

Shaw was a guest on Ted Woloshyn's CFRB Saturday show and revealed they had been willing to give him whatever time he needed for a final farewell, but he thinks he can say what he wants in about a minute. So be sure to see the end of the newscast if you want to watch the last comments live. (Although I'm pretty sure they'll also end up online soon after.)

 

January 6, 2020 12:18 pm  #2


Re: Ken Shaw's Final Newscast Is Monday At 6

As one anchor ends a long career, another has decided that his will continue - at least for now.

Keith Radford long ago traded his headphones for a camera, becoming a veteran anchor at WKBW. As he gets older, questions have emerged about how long he wants to continue at Buffalo's Channel 7. Turns out, at least one more calendar year. He just signed a new deal that will keep him doing the 5:30 and 6 PM newscasts throughout 2020.

According to the Buffalo News, he has a pretty sweet deal. He starts work at 2:30, does the hour on air, and is in his car and on the way home by 6:30 PM. Not a bad workday if you can get it. He's also surpassed the time icon Irv Weinstein spent at the station, reaching 32 years.  

Radford is also well known for his radio past, serving for five years as the news director for the legendary CKLW. His bio indicates he spent time at CTV Toronto and for a brief time at CKVR in Barrie.

Buffalo News: WKBW's Radford gets new deal

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January 6, 2020 1:17 pm  #3


Re: Ken Shaw's Final Newscast Is Monday At 6

Coincidentally, the YouTube channel "The W/O/C Archive" has uploaded a video containing a rare 1983-ish clip of Radford wrapping up a 5:30pm "Total News" report on CKVR.  Jump to about the 11-second mark in this vid.

 

January 6, 2020 8:07 pm  #4


Re: Ken Shaw's Final Newscast Is Monday At 6

Well worth watching Ken Shaw's final newscast. It was nice to meet his wife and children, hearing the honest and candid comments from his co-workers, particularly Tom Brown who admitted that Ken had helped him deal with some personal issues. You could tell his final words were honest, humble and incredibly sincere.

 

January 6, 2020 8:39 pm  #5


Re: Ken Shaw's Final Newscast Is Monday At 6

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January 6, 2020 8:48 pm  #6


Re: Ken Shaw's Final Newscast Is Monday At 6

The last half hour of the newscast was pretty well devoted to a retrospective of Shaw's career at CTV. As I watched it, I couldn't help but wonder what Gord Martineau's tribute show at City TV might have looked like if he hadn't retired without telling anyone until after it was over. If you recall, he signed off his final newscast with not a word that he was leaving and no special tributes were aired because no one in the newsroom even knew he was going. 

I'm guessing that was a middle finger to Rogers, who had severely cut his role and which has since begun a virtually anchorless newscast. I think Martineau saw which way the wind was blowing and left before they told him to. For whatever reason, neither side wanted to renew his contract.

In any event, he likely cheated CityNews out of a potential one night ratings bonanza, because I'm sure a lot of people would have tuned in to see his last show - one that likely would have been similar to the one that aired on CFTO Monday. 

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January 6, 2020 10:09 pm  #7


Re: Ken Shaw's Final Newscast Is Monday At 6

Good send off for Ken Shaw! Obviously he is very well liked by his colleagues and it was great to see some of the old clips from World Beat News, and when the station was CFTO.

Ken's parting words were well thought out and he always was one of those personalities where his personal bias never showed through, which is becoming so rare on air. That's why he was respected so much, especially by the viewers. 

He was sometimes made fun of for being a little bland and maybe too middle of the road, but as former Premier Bill Davis once said..bland works.  CTV Toronto totally dominates the local 6pm newscasts in Toronto, so this maybe confirms what the former premier said many decades ago.

Didn't see Dave Devall at all, I thought he might be back for the last newscast or even with a video comment. Hopefully Dave's health is good.

I know some will disagree with me, but Bell Media does a nice job for the "goodbye" send offs for their long term on air employees. Roger Ashby's goodbye and last show on CHUM was superb, as was Lloyd Robertson and Dave Devall's years ago.  Kevin Newman wasn't at CTV/Bell nearly as long as the those mentioned but was also given a good send off last year when he left W5 and had a nice interview on Newstalk 1010. Even locally CTV in Kitchener made a big deal regarding Lindsay Morrison moving to CTV Toronto to handle weekend weather.  

 

January 7, 2020 7:01 pm  #8


Re: Ken Shaw's Final Newscast Is Monday At 6

Interesting to hear Ken Shaw's voice off the top of CTV Toronto's 6 PM newscast, introducing Michelle Dube and Nathan Downer. I'm not sure if this is the permanent new intro or just one last tribute to the departed longtime anchor. 

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January 7, 2020 7:33 pm  #9


Re: Ken Shaw's Final Newscast Is Monday At 6

RadioActive wrote:

Interesting to hear Ken Shaw's voice off the top of CTV Toronto's 6 PM newscast, introducing Michelle Dube and Nathan Downer. I'm not sure if this is the permanent new intro or just one last tribute to the departed longtime anchor. 

While noticing the change to include Nathan Downer's name,  I must admit to not picking up on the fact that Ken did the voiceover;  until I read your post and used the Rewind feature to go back to the beginning of the newscast.