Global Edmonton's Gord Steinke on his biggest stories, travel plans and advice for the new anchor
Gord Steinke has been a driving force in the Edmonton media landscape for decades, and after 30 years at the anchor desk for Global Edmonton, he’s signing off for good this week.
Steinke is known across central and northern Alberta for co-anchoring theĀ Global News Hour at 6 and Global News at 5.
Daily Hive chatted with the iconic anchor on his retirement plans, his most memorable stories over his lengthy career, advice for the new Global News Hour at 6 anchor and more.
His decision on leaving Global Edmonton
“I’ve had 36 wonderful years working in journalism. I mean it’s been a great career for me and it just feels like now, at 63, it’s time for a new change, a bit of an early retirement,” Steinke said, pointing to a game plan he and his wife agreed upon.
“It’s time to give somebody else a chance,” he added. “I want to thank all the viewers that have watched and been so supportive over the years. People have been so kind, I am lucky to be going out on my own terms.”
His most memorable stories
Over his 30+ years at Global Edmonton, huge stories occurred in the city as well as the province. Steinke says out of all of them, a pair of natural disasters came to mind.
One disaster Steinke covered was the 2000 Pine Lake tornado that tore through a campground southeast of Red Deer, claiming 12 lives.
“Those ones are always hard because there was several people that died and they set up a makeshift morgue in a cook area I believe, it was pretty tragic and it just looked like a war zone,” Steinke said.
Another disaster that has clung to Steinke’s mind is the costliest natural disaster in Canadian history, the 2016Ā Fort McMurray wildfires.
The toughest news events to cover
As for some of the toughest news days, Steinke added there were many that stuck out, including the Mayerthorpe Tragedy in the spring of 2005, when four Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers were shot and killed by James Roszko.
“That was intense, that was a tough one. I really got to know the families that were involved and the wives and the parents of a lot of these people, and I stayed in touch with many of these people after,” he said.
Another news event that has stuck with Steinke over the years was the murder of six-year-old Corrine (Punky) Gustavson that occurred in 1992, and the subsequent search for the perpetrator.
“We teamed up with CTV, which [was] unheard of in those days, and I think we did an hour special to try and generate some tips, talked to the detectives involve and the police, witnesses and I think that story really affected me a lot because the family was in such dire straights. Anything we could do to shed light on that story, it was a real honour.”
“Michael White trial, all the court stuff. You never really forget them, you cover them so in-depth, they are a part of you.”
The thing he’s going to miss about the job
Steinke says the thing he is going to miss the most about his job can be boiled down to two words: Breaking news.
“The newsroom just starts buzzing and it’s just sort of the whirlwind of daily news and that information is just coming in faster. I’ll miss the camaraderie and the teamwork that goes together in putting together a supper-hour newscast.”
What he’s not going to miss about the job
“On a superficial level, I am not going to miss looking at my watch,” Steinke said.
“My day starts here and I have to be somewhere all the time and everything is counted down to the second, everything revolves around a bloody watch.”
A second thing he is not going to miss? The many stairs in the Global Edmonton building.
“The assignment editor said he could hear my knees starting to crinkle when I am in the cafeteria, so I thought okay that’s another sign I gotta get out of here,” Steinke said jokingly.
His trips planned to enjoy retirement
An avid motorcyclist, Steinke is wasting no time riding off into retirement and enjoying some time on the road.
“We always take a trip to the mountains and if the weather looks good, we’ll be doing that like, next week,” Steinke added, hitting up Mount Robson, Revelstoke, Golden and the Okanagan along the way.
His biggest trip is one that he has planned with his wife to Portugal, where they’ll rent a bike, of course, and head to Morocco.
“I want to go to the places where the Rolling Stones and Led Zepplin went, there’s a huge music culture there. It’s just a different culture and a different scene and to do it on the back of a motorcycle, it’s only the way to do it.”
His advice for the new Global News Hour at 6 anchor
Former CTV News Vancouver anchor Scott Roberts has been picked as Steinke’s replacement, a choice Steinke says is welcomed.
“I have already told him that he’s coming into a generous community, and he knows that. He was really looking forward to coming back to Edmonton.”
“And don’t piss off Carole Anne– she’ll make your life hell,” Steinke lovingly joked about his longtime co-anchor, Carole Anne Devaney, who has spent more than a decade with him on the anchor desk.
“It’s a really good team and I hope [Roberts] settles in here and the community embraces what he does.”
All jokes aside, Steinke added he will deeply miss Devaney and their shared sense of humour and connection at the anchor desk, and knows Roberts is in terrific hands when he joins her on the desk September 1.
Steinke’s last day at Global Edmonton is Wednesday, August 31.
Throughout his career, he has been awarded an RTDNA Canada Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016, appointed an Honourary Lieutenant Colonel of the 15 Edmonton Field Ambulance (part of the 41st Canadian Brigade Group), and received the distinguished Sovereignās Medal for Volunteers from the Governor General of Canada.
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