Jonathan Crowe leaving Here & Now after 11 years as co-host
After 31 years with the CBC, Jonathan Crowe is moving on to a new job as a teacher.
The Here & Now host made his announcement on set during Tuesday's live broadcast — an emotional few moments for him and co-hosts Debbie Cooper and Ryan Snoddon.
"It marks the end of a close team," said Cooper, who talked about the "trust" that has built up during their 11 years together on Newfoundland and Labrador's supper hour television news show.
Crowe, 56, is leaving Here & Now to be an instructor in the journalism program at the College of the North Atlantic in St. John's. His last show will be Dec. 23 and he starts his new gig in the classroom on Jan. 4.
"I grew up working at the CBC," said Crowe, who began his career as a casual production assistant in Montreal when he was 23.
His early days in Newfoundland and Labrador were spent covering sports, everything from bench-clearing brawls at Memorial Stadium to the provincial games, to baseball in Montana.
"We went everywhere there was a Newfoundlander shooting a puck or throwing a ball," he said.
Crowe moved into news, and trained as a videojournalist before moving to the Here & Now host chair in 2005.
"I wake up wondering, 'What are we going to do today?' I like going to work."
Crowe said he will miss doing interviews, meeting people, travelling and being on the air. "I'll probably miss being in the public eye."
Excited about 'new challenge'
Crowe's decision to change careers came in August of 2016, when a teaching job was posted at CNA and a friend encouraged him to apply.
"I just got more and more excited about a new challenge," he said. "In a perfect world, the opportunity would be four years from now. But it was too good to pass up."
Crowe said he is looking forward to mentoring students and hopes to be working "hands-on." He will also be studying for an education diploma.
"And there will be a suit sale at my house very soon," he joked.
Breaking up a team
Crowe's departure from the broadcast team comes as a "bit of a shock" to Debbie Cooper, who calls him her "work hubby."
It's also "disappointing" for meteorologist Ryan Snoddon, who said he can't help feeling "selfish" to see a good buddy and fellow prankster leave the show.
"We have a really good thing going, a good rapport," said Snoddon. "It's not too often do you get to work with your really good buddy. You can't make that up."
Snoddon and Cooper agree that the teaching job is an opportunity that doesn't come along every day, and is too good to pass up.
"He brings a wealth of experience — technical, journalistic, presentation," said Cooper. "He'll be an asset to the journalism program."
Crowe, whose three decades in broadcasting include interviewing disgraced politician Ed Byrne after the spending scandal in the House of Assembly and covering tragedies such as the 2001 drowning of three teenagers in Pouch Cove, said his fondest memories were made behind the scenes.
"You work with some of the smartest people, the greatest characters," he said. "The best moments didn't get on the air."
