CTV News Ottawa’s chief news anchor Graham Richardson signed off for his last newscast Friday night.
A special edition of the CTV News at Six looked back on Richardson’s remarkable career in broadcast journalism.His career started in Edmonton, then Toronto before coming to CTV News. Richardson worked as CTV News’ Los Angeles bureau chief, political correspondent at the National News Bureau and chief news anchor at CTV News Ottawa.
“It has been an incredible privilege to tell your stories, especially the last 15 years here at CTV Ottawa and nearly 20 years with CTV News.” Richardson said.
During Richardson’s final newscast Friday — veteran Patricia Boal, who has been named the anchor of CTV News at Six, starting Monday — reported the highlights of Richardson’s career, pointing out some of the bloopers and lighter moments along the way.
The announcement was made on Thursday.
A seasoned anchor and reporter, Boal was on the desk for live coverage of the tornadoes that hit the Ottawa area in 2018 and was in the flood zone in 2017 and 2019 speaking with impacted homeowners. She has also reported from multiple Olympic Games including Rio 2016, London 2012 and Vancouver 2010.
“As a skilled journalist who is well-known to our audience, Patricia is the ideal choice to take over our flagship newscast and deliver the stories that matter most to our viewers,” said Peter Angione, Director of News and Information Programming, Bell Media Ottawa. “With Patricia as anchor, and the very best newsroom team in the region, CTV News at Six will continue the long tradition of bringing Ottawa viewers the very best local news.”
During her career, Boal has covered some of the biggest stories including reporting on Canadian peacekeepers in Bosnia in 1999, the federal referendum vote in Montreal in 1995 and the Paul Bernardo murder trial in Toronto that same year.
Boal will continue to host “Ottawa at Work” on Newstalk 580 CFRA weekdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
CTV News Ottawa announced Thursday that Matt Skube will return as the anchor of CTV News at Five in addition to leading CTV News at 11:30 p.m.