Calgary broadcasting legend Darrel Janz has passed away at the age of 83.

For decades, viewers have tuned in to CTV Calgary to see Darrel anchor the news and report on inspiring Albertans.

He inspired thousands of young journalists and continued to tell the stories of Calgarians until his final days.

He worked in broadcast for 61 years, including 50 years bringing news to Southern Alberta with CTV Calgary.

early years

Darrel grew up in the small town of Main Center, Sask.

He talked about those days in the documentary A Life in News, which was first broadcast in 2013 and produced by video journalist Kevin Green, who has been working at CTV for a long time.

“Life revolved around two things: church and school,” Darrel said in the documentary.

Classmates and teachers said Darrel developed a love for reading and current events at Home.

He attended high school in the nearby town of Herbert.

After high school, he attended teachers’ college in Regina but only taught for one year before starting his broadcasting career at CFAM Radio in Altona, Man.

“I distributed my children’s report cards on June 29 and started my career on Domination Day, 1962,” he said.

From radio to TV

The following year, Darrel moved to CHAB-TV & Radio in Moose Jaw, Sask., and later to CFQC-TV in Saskatoon.

As television transitioned from black and white to colour, he informed news producers such as then-Saskatchewan premier Tommy Douglas and former premier John Diefenbaker.

“I got to do some of it all, where I met a lot of people who later became prominent in Saskatchewan news,” Darrel said of those days.

Later in the 1960s, Darrel went to Montreal, where he anchored and reported at CFCF-TV.

There, he featured more history-making newsmakers, including prime minister Pierre Trudeau and Quebec premier René Lévesque.

He also reported extensively on the FLQ crisis in October 1970.

“For a journalist, you always want to be at the center of the biggest story in the world, and I was in the right place at the right time,” Darrel said.

We’re going back west

After a brief stint as a host at CFPL-TV in London, Ontario, Darrel came to Calgary to host at CFCN-TV (now CTV Calgary).

“I signed a five-year contract and thought that would be enough. Then it would be time to go to Toronto for the big show,” Darrel said in the 2013 documentary.

But the Calgary stop extended for decades.

“I stayed and I don’t regret it at all because I couldn’t think of a better place to develop my career,” he said.

From 1973 to 1987, Darrel hosted the news at 6 and 11:30 p.m.

He hosted the six o’clock news from 1987 to 2010, including 21 years with Barb Higgins.

Darrel traveled to Baden-Baden, Germany, to cover the IOC’s announcement that Calgary would host the 1988 Winter Olympic Games.

The 1990s followed Operation Christmas Child’s distribution of gift-filled shoeboxes from Calgary to children in Bosnia.

“This will forever remain the highlight of my career,” Darrel said of the Bosnia mission.

Return to teaching

During his time in Calgary, Darrel put his previous education at the Saskatchewan Teachers College to good use.

He taught broadcast journalism at SAIT for 11 years and at Mount Royal College for 15 years.

He has worked with dozens of former students over the years and said he is always proud of their accomplishments.

Return to reporting roots

After long-time co-anchor Barb Higgins left CTV Calgary in 2010 to run for mayor, Darrel left the main news desk and returned to his roots as a reporter.

Launched the weekly “Inspirers” series, profiling more than 650 extraordinary Albertans.

“It has been such a joy doing this for 13 years and meeting so many wonderful people,” Darrel said in 2023.

Latest projects

“The word ‘retirement’ is not in my vocabulary,” Darrel was fond of saying, and after leaving CTV in May 2023, he began a new project.

He hosted the interview show Legacy Makers, a series on YES TV profiling Albertans who have left an inspiring, impactful legacy.

Darrel paid tribute to his friend Ron “Buck Shot” Barge in 2024 when the legendary CTV Calgary children’s entertainer died at the age of 87.

“When he was playing Buck Shot on TV, he was playing Ron Barge,” Darrel said. “He was a kind and caring person.”

A legacy creator himself, Darrel impacted the lives of many people personally and professionally.

He reflected in 2023: “I can’t believe I grew up in that little Mennonite community, on that farm, and went to a little school… I’m just saying, I think it’s amazing that I get to do what I do. It’s amazing from there.”

Awards and honors:

• CanPro Gold Award for the documentary From the Hand of a Child, 1995
• Numerous team awards from the Radio and Television News Executives Association
• Honorary Bachelor of Communications – Journalism Degree from Mount Royal College, 2003
• Volunteer Calgary Heart of Calgary Award, 2004
• RTNDA Lifetime Achievement Award, 2006
• SAIT Polytechnic Honorary Bachelor of Science in Applied Technology, 2009
• Western Publishers Association Hall of Fame Award, 2013
• City of Calgary Community Activism Award, 2013

Career highlights:

• Extent of Quebec’s October Crisis, 1970
• Coverage of Calgary’s 1981 bid to host the 1988 Winter Olympic Games, the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, the 1988 Calgary Olympics, various federal and provincial political leadership meetings, and dozens of elections
• Darrel’s most memorable assignment was traveling with shoeboxes from children in Calgary to children in war-torn Bosnia and Croatia in 1995.

With files from Kevin Green