Tony Parsons leaves the News Hour

Global News anchorman Tony Parsons will leave the country's top-rated supper-hour newscast months earlier than expected, with his last broadcast tonight.

Parsons, who reduced his workload this year to just two telecasts a week, had been expected to remain as a part-time anchor for the News Hour through the end of February and the 2010 Olympic Games.

"There was one rumour flying around town today that I should say something about," Parsons said at the end of the News Hour on Tuesday night.

"My future with the News Hour, as it happens, is only going to last another 24 hours."

Brett Manlove, vice-president of Global BC, said it was with "mixed emotions" that he could confirm Parsons would be leaving the show after 34 years.

"Our icon, our friend, is calling it a day," said Manlove. "Tony leaves us a bona fide legend."

Manlove said Parsons has indicated he would like to remain in the broadcasting community and several options are being discussed. He said there is nothing to announce yet.

Global news director Ian Haysom said Parsons' final show will be tonight.

"Tony has been an icon in this province for decades and we will miss him. We are indebted to him for his years serving our station, our viewers and our community."

Haysom said Parsons and Global BC have been working on the transition for some time, and Parsons has helped choose his successor. "We kept the announcement low-key because Tony didn't want a big fuss . . . but we'll be making a small fuss on Wednesday night's broadcast."

In a statement, Parsons said: "I want to thank everyone for a great ride at BCTV and Global.

"We all knew this day would come and while obviously this is a bittersweet moment, I know it is the right decision for the station and for me."

Parsons joined Global -- then BCTV -- in the early '70s and has anchored the evening news program for 35 years.

"Guys like him are probably never going to be seen again -- people who have that kind of longevity or that kind of trust with viewers," Global National anchor Kevin Newman told Canwest News Service.

"I think it's important we mark the fact that an era is turning."

Parsons has just released a memoir about his career, titled A Life in the News.

Encouraged by a high school teacher who admired his reading voice, Parsons enrolled in Ryerson's then-fledgling Radio and Television Arts program in Toronto but dropped out, an experience he calls a "disaster."

Parsons talked himself into a string of on-air jobs at radio stations before landing a rock 'n' roll disc jockey gig in Guelph, Ont. It was a short-lived assignment as the young Parsons could never muster enough fake joy to satisfy the station manager or the listeners.

"I didn't enjoy it, and listeners soon tired of me, believe me," he said. "I was never a DJ kind of guy."

He took one more job spinning records in Hamilton, Ont., but soon marched down to the news director's office to ask if he could have a stab at the news.

He never looked back. His career took him to Toronto and then to Vancouver.

Parsons and his wife will be heading south for a break.

This Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2009 at 6 p.m., Tony Parsons will anchor the News Hour on Global BC for the last time.

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