Legendary 'Last Word' storyteller Mike McCardell prepares to say goodbye after 62-year career

After 62 years in the news business, Mike McCardell has decided it’s time to call it a day.

“I’m 80 years old,” he says. “I’m tired.”

Since the mid 1970s McCardell has been telling stories to British Columbians on television, becoming well known for his signature style of delivery and penchant for introducing audiences to unusual and often uplifting characters he meets on the street.

He got his start in print, chasing crime stories in the early '60s for the New York Daily News. It was a rough and tumble introduction to local journalism in a dangerous city.

“It was my job to count the bodies and the bullet casings at the shootings."

He had his teeth knocked out one day by a stranger. When his wife Valerie lay on top of their young son and daughter at a playground to protect them during a gun battle between police and a local gang, they knew it was time to leave.

An article about Vancouver in a 1973 edition of National Geographic convinced them to make a new start in Canada.

“I slid the magazine across the kitchen table and I asked Valerie if she wants to go there, and she said yes.”

After a stint covering the crime beat at the Vancouver Sun, he was hired as a television reporter at an up and coming station called BCTV, where he distinguished himself for an ability to find and tell memorable human interest stories. He never looked back, and his slot at the end of the 6 o’clock news became must-see TV for generations of families around the province.

When he jumped over to CTV News Vancouver in 2013, the station christened his segment “The Last Word.”

A 62-year career that includes thousands of stories and the publication of 13 books is impressive enough in its own right, but even more remarkable considering McCardell has trouble reading. “I am totally dyslexic,” he shares. In order to write, he “just started talking to the wall and learned how to type.”

Looking back, he feels grateful and lucky. “It was fun. It was just great. I don’t even think I’m good at it. I just listen to somebody and they tell a story and I just say something positive I’ve learned about them.”

Mike’s last day on the job will be Friday, Aug. 30. His last story – a farewell to British Columbia TV viewers – will run at the end of CTV News at Six. A Final Word from one of B.C.’s most beloved storytellers.

“Every story is my favourite story when I’m doing it. Today’s story is the most important story to me in my life, and tomorrow’s will be the same thing."