Friends, coworkers remember legendary CHCH anchor Dan McLean

Former coworkers and friends are remembering Dan McLean, a legendary broadcaster who spent more than 30 years as the face of CHCH News. He passed away Friday at the age of 78.

McLean was a mentor for a long list of journalists who walked through the doors at CHCH. Former colleagues are remembering him not only as a journalistic force to be reckoned with, but as a dear friend and a newsman who truly cared.

“He gravitated to people, people gravitated to him,” said former CHCH News anchor and reporter Connie Smith. “He cared about them, he wanted to know about them and he just treated people with dignity.”

Smith says when McLean walked into a room, everyone knew it.

“Consummate professional. I mean, the voice — he just presented himself so beautifully, and people gravitated to him because of that,” Smith said. “His persona off-camera was very much the same as on-camera.”

Smith says sharing the anchor desk with McLean was initially intimidating, but he quickly made her feel at home.

“Dan was the anchor, he was the man,” Smith said. “We were just so relaxed together that it made it fun, also exciting. I mean, we were on air for the best and the worst of times.”

Former CHCH News reporter Fred Anderton remembers McLean’s voice as legendary and his style as impeccable.

“Dan had this great voice, this great hair,” Anderton said, recalling a viewer once called in to ask if McLean’s hair was real. “He was the ultimate team player. He helped everyone that he could. He could have put himself up here on a pedestal, but he didn’t.”

McLean was the face of news in the Golden Horseshoe for 37 years. Former sportscaster Paul Hendrick remembers him as the “classic anchorman.”

“Dan was our leader,” Hendrick said. “He was the prototypical anchorman. Just so well-rehearsed, well-researched. He knew what he was doing and just so darn smooth.”

McLean was also dedicated to his community. He was one of the leaders of the CHCH team that helped raise millions of dollars for McMaster Children’s Hospital and many other charities.

“Our emotions were just overflowing and it was so raw and so honest,” Smith said. “I think that honesty and the humanity in journalists is more important today than ever, and I think Dan’s legacy is that kind of a shining star.”

His impact remains within the walls of the station today. Sports anchor Bubba O’Neil remembers his first appearance on the weekday 6 p.m. newscast alongside the veteran anchor.

“May have been the most nervous I have ever been because I’m sitting beside Dan McLean,” O’Neil said. “He actually settled me down a little because I think he could sense that I was nervous. Then you get to know him and you see what a professional he was, how much he cared about the job and how much he cared about the community.”

McLean often emphasized that while international and national news mattered, “local news is the most important of all.”

His contributions were recognized with several prestigious honours, including an RTDNA Lifetime Achievement Award, the Queen’s Jubilee Medal, and being named Hamilton’s Citizen of the Year in 2001.

“Dan’s gonna be missed, but he won’t be forgotten,” Anderton said. “He was a great man.”

Alongside his professional achievements, McLean was a devoted husband and loving father.

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