Ken Newans

CTV Calgary announced on 13 November 2026 that Ken Newans had died, aged 95. No cause of death was made public. Former co anchor Barb Higgins called him one of her all time favourite coworkers, saying "He was a force." CTV News Director Jeff Little described him as talented, passionate and kind, and sports anchor Glenn Campbell, whom Newans hired in 1992, called him a legend in Calgary sports broadcasting.

Ken Newans was born in Rouleau, Saskatchewan. As a young man he tried his hand at teaching school before turning to broadcasting, which became his life's work.

Newans began broadcasting in Moose Jaw and moved on to Regina before arriving in Calgary in 1968 to join the sports team at CFCN television and radio. He was promoted to sports director in 1971 and held the job until his retirement in 1996, becoming known to generations of Calgarians as the face of CFCN sports.

He covered seven Olympic Games, five Vanier Cups and thirty Grey Cup games. For twelve seasons he was the play by play voice of the Calgary Stampeders and was closely involved in the club's promotional work, later becoming the public address voice at Stampeders games. He was part of CTV's national football broadcasts and a feature reporter for CTV's Wide World of Sports. Colleagues nicknamed him Noodles.

He championed university and amateur sport. He became public address announcer for University of Calgary Dinos football in 1984 and called his last game, the Mitchell Bowl win over Saint Mary's, on 20 November 2010. He was master of ceremonies at the Dinos Fifth Quarter dinner for 25 years, served for two decades on the national top ten committee for university football and was involved with the BLG Awards from their start in 1993.

Newans made his home in Calgary from 1968. His son Mike Newans was equipment manager on two University of Calgary Vanier Cup championship teams, and his grandson Curtis Prime has played football for the Dinos.

Newans was inducted into the Football Reporters of Canada section of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1991. In 2011 he became the first media member inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in the builder category, after more than twenty five years on its board, and received the Order of the University of Calgary. He was also a member of the Canadian Boxing Hall of Fame and was the only person to win the Fred Sgambati Award twice. The University of Calgary's Ken Newans athletic award, created in 2010, supports Dinos football and basketball players from Calgary high schools.