After graduating from Canton Central Catholic High School in 1963 and spending one year at Walsh College (now Walsh University), Henry began classes in telecommunications at Kent State University. He took on a crushing workload that left little time for socializing. He whirled among small radio stations, broadcasting his first Pro Football Hall of Fame parade as "Ted Tracy" while hanging out a studio window. Afternoons were still spent at the family store. He made a one-hour round trip from Hartville each night just to sign off the Kent college station at midnight. "I wanted to do that. I fought for that job. Because I really, really was attracted to broadcasting," Henry said. "I was born a Type A personality. I'm sure I was a very nerdy kid." Those early days taught him that it's impossible to hide your true self from the microphone or camera. Anxiety, bias, anger -- all are evident, and your audience can figure out quickly what you're really thinking. After graduating from Kent in 1968, Henry became a reporter for WAKR in Akron while in Kent's graduate program. But soon he entered the Peace Corps and was stationed in Paraguay for several years. On his return, he worked at a combined television and radio station in Youngstown.
Paraguay RPCV Ted Henry eflects on 40 years in broadcasting
Cleveland's Ted Henry reflects on 40 years in broadcasting
by Julie E. Washington/Plain Dealer Reporter
Sunday May 17, 2009, 12:01 AM
If Ted Henry's father had gotten his way, young Ted would have taken over the family business, a Canton hardware store.
But Ted Sr. knew his son's heart was in broadcasting.
So he bought commercials on a tiny, 24-hour religious radio station, with a special stipulation: that 16-year-old Ted be allowed to write, produce and voice the commercials in his makeshift home studio.
"[Those spots] were so bad," Henry laughed in a recent interview. So bad the station tried to give back the Henrys' money. But Ted Sr. intervened, and young Ted was allowed to use the station's professional equipment to cut the commercials.
"They were still atrocious, but they sounded better," Henry said. And here's the rest of the story: The store's customers were Amish and didn't own radios.
Henry is in the mood to reflect on this less-than-stellar beginning to more than 40 years in broadcasting. His retirement this month as WEWS Channel 5 anchor closes a chapter in the city's broadcast history.
Henry is the last link to the days when there were three news stations in town and television anchors such as John and Judd Hambrick, Gib Shanley and Doug Adair enjoyed the height of television's power and influence.
Henry and Channel 5 were synonymous, said former Channel 5 General Manager John Butte.
"He knew that, but it never affected him," said Butte, a Cleveland talent agent and media consultant. "Ted was truly humbled by the support, love and respect this community gave him, and which he earned."
Plans for travel, interviews of spiritual leaders
Henry, 63, had more than a year left on his contract. Now, he and wife Jody Cleary will travel more extensively, continuing their work of taping interviews with spiritual leaders and inspirational individuals around the world. They distribute the tapes to whoever wants them, at no cost, he said.
He's looking forward to investigating life's big questions. "I'll be in school, and school will never end," Henry said. "It's the most fun I could ever envision for myself."
Henry, who grew up in Canton, has anchored Channel 5's 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts since 1975. His tenure spans the days when Channel 5 dominated locally with high viewership, Dorothy Fuldheim and seminal shows such as "Upbeat."
"The smartest thing I ever did is never try to leave Cleveland," said Henry, who co-anchors with Danita Harris.
But in recent years, the station strained to carve out a strong identity and hang on to viewers. In the March ratings period -- among the first in this market to use data gathered with people meters -- the station's 11 p.m. newscast came in last. Nielsen Media Research's automatic people meters track viewership automatically, without relying on people to record viewing habits in paper diaries.
Colleagues will miss his mentoring, intelligence and deep sense of ethics. They'll also miss helping themselves to the salted peanuts he kept in his desk.
The man who would sit at Fuldheim's feet spent his early years in an apartment above his parents' store. Afternoons were dedicated to sweeping up the store, but the boy would linger in the aisle where the radio sat, listening to Paul Harvey.
After graduating from Canton Central Catholic High School in 1963 and spending one year at Walsh College (now Walsh University), Henry began classes in telecommunications at Kent State University.
He took on a crushing workload that left little time for socializing. He whirled among small radio stations, broadcasting his first Pro Football Hall of Fame parade as "Ted Tracy" while hanging out a studio window. Afternoons were still spent at the family store.
He made a one-hour round trip from Hartville each night just to sign off the Kent college station at midnight. "I wanted to do that. I fought for that job. Because I really, really was attracted to broadcasting," Henry said. "I was born a Type A personality. I'm sure I was a very nerdy kid."
Those early days taught him that it's impossible to hide your true self from the microphone or camera. Anxiety, bias, anger -- all are evident, and your audience can figure out quickly what you're really thinking.
After graduating from Kent in 1968, Henry became a reporter for WAKR in Akron while in Kent's graduate program. But soon he entered the Peace Corps and was stationed in Paraguay for several years. On his return, he worked at a combined television and radio station in Youngstown.
From weather forecasts to international stories
When the offer came from Channel 5, Youngstown's mayor warned he would be a little guppy in Cleveland's sea. Henry chose to chance it, starting as a weekend weatherman in 1972. He admits now his forecasts were gleaned by listening to a Detroit radio station and figuring that Detroit's morning clouds would mean Cleveland's evening rain.
In 1975, he replaced John Hambrick as evening co-anchor; Dave Patterson was the first of Henry's 13 co-anchors. Over the decades, he's shared the Channel 5 anchor desk with Harris, Wilma Smith, Jeff Maynor, Lorna Barrett, Lee Jordan, Tonya Strong, Robin Swoboda, Stefani Schaefer and others.
How did he survive so long?
"Beats the hell out of me," Henry said. "I never focused on that. I just ignored that."
Henry brought national and international stories home to Cleveland viewers. He was among the few local anchors to report live from Germany when the Berlin Wall came down. He traveled to Mexico to cover earthquakes and to Central and South America to report on conflicts in Grenada, El Salvador and Panama.
He also went to Israel six times to cover John Demjanjuk's trial.
"I've been lucky to come through the greatest glory days of television," he said.
Looking to the future of local news, he predicts in just a few years only two local stations will report news. He hopes Channel 5 is one of them, because it is best prepared for the challenge, he said.
Retired WJW Channel 8 anchor Tim Taylor worked with Henry at Channel 5 during the 1970s. After Taylor went to Channel 8, Henry was a "formidable competitor," Taylor said, recalling the days when channels 5 and 8 battled for ratings.
Longevity is everything among Cleveland viewers, Taylor said, and "he benefited tremendously from that."
When Harris and Henry were paired in 2007, she felt intimidated by his reputation. But Henry quickly put her at ease by inquiring about her interests.
"I'm all in awe of him," Harris said. "He has a calm, gentle way about him."
Harris, a minister at Fresh Wind Ministry in Cleveland, often talks about spiritual matters with Henry. Whenever there are glitches in the newscast and the tension level is spiraling, the unflappable Henry said: "Passing clouds. It's all passing clouds."
"It just checks me. It puts things in perspective," she said.
Smith recalled that she co-anchored with Henry for most of the 17 years she was at Channel 5. "It is always a delight as an anchor to work with someone who is a professional on and off the screen," Smith said in an e-mail. "Ted was always that. He certainly deserves these tributes as someone who has given so much to our wonderful community."
It's doubtful that, because of changes in the way local television works, Henry's replacement will have an opportunity to stay at one station as long as he did.
Some local media watchers wonder if Channel 5 will reach out to former WKYC Channel 3 anchor Tim White. White, who left Channel 3 in December, is living in Cody, Wyo., but is not on the air. Channel 5 General Manager Viki Regan said internal and external candidates will be considered, but she has not had discussions with any specific person.
As he prepares to sign off, Henry looks forward to continuing his pursuit of the spiritual and the profound. Henry and Cleary, a retired interior designer, have made 13 monthlong trips to India. Retirement will allow the couple to travel more widely. Henry's grown children, Joanna and Adam, live on the West Coast.
Henry said he and Cleary will spend a few months of every year in Cleveland.
"I hold a deep personal conviction that the mysteries of the spirit are the last, great journalistic frontier," Henry said. "We are constantly the students at the feet of sages and teachers."
