CBC News anchor visits Steinbach while on retirement tour

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A veteran CBC News broadcaster kicked off her retirement tour across Canada by taping a newscast in Steinbach and meeting with residents.

Heather Hiscox, CBC Morning Live’s host for 20 years, anchored the show inside the Southeast Event Centre on Sept. 25. Her stop in Steinbach marks the beginning of her final series of broadcasts, following her retirement announcement in June.

“It’s just been so clear to me what a precious gift it is to just have a four-hour conversation every day…with Canadians,” the 60-year-old told The Carillon.

She views her time behind the news desk as “fulfilling” and “enriching” to learn from Canadians each time she hosted the show.

Hiscox said the stop in Steinbach furthers her belief that new voices need to be heard and new regions need to covered that were previously underrepresented.

“In this time of media companies closing down and more and more media voices being silenced, it’s communities like this that have a greater need to have a place where their stories can be covered and told,” she said.

During her newscast, she covered local stories, such the Southeast Event Centre’s opening and Dory, the blind cat which starred in the film The Long Walk.

From when she arrived at the airport in Winnipeg, to driving into Steinbach before sunrise, Hiscox was struck by how welcoming and generous people were.

“This tradition of giving back and of supporting one another in the community, helping those who have helped you, this (Steinbach) is sort of the symbol of that,” she said. “I found that really very touching and very impressive.”

Hiscox grew up in Owen Sound, Ont. and got her start in journalism, not behind a camera, but inside a recording studio as a disc jockey. At 17-year-old, she got a summer job in local radio, despite being interested in pursuing law school in Toronto.

“I was doing the hog reports, I was doing funeral announcements, I was cutting tape, I was recording commercials. I was spinning discs, country, oldies, it didn’t matter and reading newscasts,” she said, describing that time as “fantastically fun.”

Hiscox then switched to studying journalism for her master’s degree, which led her to have a 43-year career in both radio and broadcast news.

She still remembers the details of her first newscast for CBC Morning Live, down to the chocolate brown velvet blazer she wore. When she got behind the desk, it marked a reframing for the morning news show as the launch of the news day. That move gave the program a new energy and purpose, she said.

“We’re going to set it up so that you’re aware, to the best of our ability, of everything that might happen in this day that you’re going to need and want to know about, and then we’re going to follow it as the story plays out,” Hiscox said. “That just made it so immediate, exciting and dramatic.”

She views all her decisions on career changes as a “leap of faith” and describes her retirement as her latest jump. While she’s has some plans and projects in mind, Hiscox didn’t reveal any details about what’s up next when she signs off for the last time.

After her show in Steinbach, Hiscox’s next tour stops will include Lloydminister, Alta/Sask., Hudson, Que., and her hometown Owen Sound, Ont.

Her final broadcast will air on Nov. 6 in Toronto.