Jan Tennant (born 1937) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

television journalist.

Early life

Tennant was born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

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in 1937, growing up in the

High Park North High Park North, or often simply High Park, after the park, is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is bounded on the south by Bloor Street, on the west by Runnymede Road, on the north by Annette Street, Quebec Avenue and Humberside Av ...

neighbourhood, attended Runnymede Public School and Humberside Collegiate Institute, and then attended the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

Teaching

She graduated with a degree with Physical Education and Health and began teaching at Queen Elizabeth Junior High in

Port Credit, Ontario Port Credit is a neighbourhood in the south-central part of the City of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, located at the mouth of the Credit River on the north shore of Lake Ontario. Its main intersection is Hurontario Street and Lakeshore Road, ...

(1960), Switzerland (1961–62), then obtained a Type A Certificate in Physical and Health Education, and Type B in English and French at the

Ontario College of Education The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto (OISE/UT) is Canada's only all-graduate institute of teaching, learning and research, located in Toronto, Ontario. It is located directly above the St. George subway s ...

(1962–63) before resuming teaching at Castle Frank High School in

until 1965.

Broadcasting

Jan Tennant joined the CBC in 1966 as a unit secretary. She soon became a script assistant for ''

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'' and ''

The Nature of Things ''The Nature of Things'' (also, ''The Nature of Things with David Suzuki'') is a Canadian television series of documentary programs. It debuted on CBC Television on 6 November 1960. Many of the programs document nature and the effect that hu ...

'' and then moved into announcing for both radio and television. She was formerly an announcer for the

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

and CBC Television including commentary on ''

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'' and in 1974, became the first woman to host '' The National'' when she appeared as a substitute anchor. Jan became the announcer for the popular CBC-TV series

Reach for the Top ''Reach for the Top'' (also known simply as ''Reach'') is a Canadian academic quiz competition for high school students. In the past, it has also been a game show nationally broadcast on the CBC. Matches are currently aired online through Reach ...

in 1971, and in 1973 she took over from Alex Trebek as host of the series for the next eight years. Tennant had also anchored ''The Saturday Evening News'', the 6 p.m. national newscast, before that program was renamed ''

Saturday Report ''Saturday Report'' (officially titled ''CBC News: Saturday Report'' from 2001 to 2009) was the primary Saturday newscast aired on CBC Television and CBC Newsworld from 1982 to 2009. Jacquie Perrin was the program's most recent regular anchor, al ...

'' in 1982. She subsequently left the CBC and worked as an anchor for Global Television Network until 1987. She retired from broadcasting in 1998. She has since been freelancing in Vancouver.

References

* Shaw, Ted. "Mid-life crises aren't for Tennant", ''Windsor Star'', February 1, 1992, p. F6 Living people Canadian television news anchors University of Toronto alumni 1937 births Canadian women television journalists Journalists from Toronto 20th-century Canadian journalists 20th-century Canadian women {{canada-journalist-stub