A Career In Broadcasting
His first broadcasting job was as a country and western DJ at CJCS in Stathford, Ontario. In fact, he worked at various radio jobs in Guelph, Hamilton and Stratford, before landing in Toronto. After a brief stint with CHUM radio, he took his first television job as a reporter at CFTO-TV, a CTV affiliate.
Having that ideal, resonating voice for broadcast, Parsons soon advanced to become the late evening anchor at CFTO until 1975, when he accepted the opportunity to fill the 6:00 anchor spot on CHAN-TV (later known as BCTV) in Vancouver, BC, where he remained for more than 30 years. Parsons was also the anchor of the national edition of Canada Tonight, a CHAN-produced newscast which aired outside of BC on stations owned by Western International Communications until that company was acquired by the Global Television Network.
In 2004, his career achievements were recognized by his being awarded the prestigious Bruce Hutchison Lifetime Achievement Award by the Jack Webster Foundation. Parsons even had a cameo as a TV anchor in the 2001 film Saving Silverman (also known as Evil Woman). The same year he appeared, once again as a news anchor, in the Jack Nicholson film The Pledge.
On December 16, 2009, Parsons anchored his final newscast at Global BC after 35 years as anchor of the News Hour for a planned retirement. However, just 3 months later he reappeared on the air, bringing star power to the 10 p.m. newscast on CHEK News, and later began anchoring CBC News Vancouver, with the final 30 minutes of the 90-minute 5 p.m. newscast simulcast on CHEK.
Tony Parsons. The end of an era.
produced by co-anchor Deb Hope
Tony’s final sign-off from Global News
A New Beginning
Tony Parsons has covered some of the biggest stories in B.C. during a broadcasting career spanning more than 50 years. Its safe to say that Parsons, was once Canada’s most-watched anchor while at Global B.C., where he worked for more than three decades (formerly BCTV). In recognition of his talents Parsons, was inducted into the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame in 2009.
When he was doing double-duty, Parsons would fly Heli-jet to Victoria to host CHEK’s 10 p.m. news after doing the Vancouver news broadcast.
Parsons’ involvement with CHEK News, which since 2009 has been an independent station owned by employees and local investors under the CHEK Media Group banner, was inspired by his admiration for its employees, he said at the time. He said he was impressed that they had “a little fire in their bellies” — enough to put up their own money to save the station from potential extinction after previous owner, Canwest Global Communications, announced plans to shut it down in 2009.
Tony Parsons joins the CHEK News team.
Tony’s Memoirs
With a love for Italian cuisine, on November 23, 2009, he opened a Vancouver restaurant, the Poor Italian in which he has a part ownership stake. You can read more about Tony’s memoirs in his book; A Life In The News published by Harbour Publishing. It’s a fabulous read, one which unveils much about Tony’s interesting past.
His memoir takes the reader through his life from wartorn Europe as a child to his early days in radio to his early days in TV newscasting – through the 80’s, 90’s and 2000’s to the present day where he enjoys quality time with his wife Tammy. Even if you’re not interested in journalism and the inner workings of the media machine, I’m confident you’ll love reading about his past including his thoughts working with co-anchor Pamela Martin.
Tony also speaks candidly about his take on where “the news” is going, his trusty pet dog that sat at his feet for more than a decade’s worth of broadcasts and even his personal struggles with alcohol and coming to terms with his decision to leave the position he held for so long.
