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."
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