Andria Case paid her dues in becoming longest serving CTV Toronto weekend anchor
October 6, 2023
Becoming a cop or pilot were at the top of Andria Case’s career aspirations growing up in England.
That was until finding out she did not meet the visual requirements for both occupations.
At around age 11, Case had difficulty seeing the classroom blackboard.
“I had to listen and take notes,” she recalled. “One day, the teacher told me I might need eyeglasses. When I went for the assessment, they said I really needed glasses that I wore from the time I woke up until I went to bed at night.”
With unemployment high and England experiencing its darkest period since World War II, Case’s family relocated to Canada in the spring of 1973.
Quickly adapting to her new home, she pursued Journalism and Advertising Studies at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) and was doing well as a National Account Manager at Telemedia.
Out of the blue, Case learnt she would be out of a job.
“I was told I had two choices,” she recounted. “I could leave now and take a severance or I could remain in the role for a month while looking for a job. In that way, they said people would still think I work for the company. My response was there was another choice and I could sue you.”
Case took the severance package and her boyfriend at the time – Richard Parkinson has been her husband since 2004 – asked what wish he could grant her.
Andria Case and her husband Richard Parkinson (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
“I told him I wanted to be on television,” was the spontaneous response. “I really don’t know where it came from. I didn’t want to be an actress. I wanted to be a reporter. Richard said, ‘Be on TV’.
Out of a job, Case moved back in with her parents in Ontario with a plan to drive to Vancouver a few months later and seek employment.
“I had sold ad space for Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary lifestyle magazines,” she said. “I had been to Vancouver a number of times and loved the lifestyle there.”
Case changed her mind after her relationship with Parkinson deepened.
“I met him through a friend,” she said. “We had a good time the first time we were together, but there was no spark. A few weeks later at Telemedia annual Ground Hog Day party at a Yorkville nightclub, I saw him. Something clicked and he asked me out.”
While their romance was growing, Case was busy applying to television stations in Canada.
“They all said no, but June McCulla at Global TV asked me to come in and talk,” she pointed out. “I put on my ‘Sunday Best’ and went in full of confidence. We had a good chat. She was like the gatekeeper. I believe every company should have someone like that who would do interviews and start the process of building relationships. You might not get a job right away, but you can keep in touch with them and, as they grow, you might get something with them later on.”
Aware that Case didn’t have media experience, McCulla inquired how long it would take for her to become a reporter.
“To me, this was like a trick question from someone looking for a certain answer and you know that is not the answer you want to give,” she said. “I blurted out 10 years. I was in my mid-20s and I figured I would be a bit old by that time. However, I thought that was the answer she wanted. We had a nice meeting and I wrote her a thank you letter when I got home and put it in the mail.”
A few days later, McCulla called, confirming receipt of the letter and asking if Case would be interested in a job.
“She was looking to fill two editorial assistant positions,” the 2023 Harry Jerome Award winner said. “June also told me it was the lowest job in the newsroom. This was definitely a step down for me coming from a job where I had an expense account, car allowance, office and an administrative assistant. She said this was an opportunity to get my foot in the door.”
Andria Case was the recipient of the Best On Air Personality honour at the Reel Black Awards show in September 2001 (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
That was all Case needed.
She was an Editorial Assistant at Global TV, working a rotating 24-hour shift.
Stuck in the same position with no promotion, Case left after two years and joined the Movie Network (now Crave).
While promoting shows as a Publicist, she applied to CFPL-TV in London.
“I didn’t get it, but a woman there thanked me for the interest and told me to call her in a month which I did,” Case said. “I was told there was nothing now, but call in two weeks which I again did. I was a building a relationship.”
When CFPL-TV News Director George Clark called, saying they had a job for her, she told him she was employed and hung up.
“A few seconds later, I realized he was calling me and it was not for me as I knew there were a lot of people at Global who wanted to advance,” said Case. “I ran downstairs to a pay phone in the lobby. On answering the phone, he started laughing. I explained to him I left Global because I was not happy and he invited me to come to London for an interview and writing test. I interviewed with three different people and was given some wire copy and asked if I could write a TV script. I told them I could do that in my sleep and I banged that thing out so fast.”
Andria Case with late Ontario Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Making quite the impression, she was offered an Editorial Assistant job.
The stay was brief.
A year later, she joined CHWI-TV in Windsor as a videographer, shooting and editing stories.
Though she relished the job, Case missed her family who was in Toronto. To add to the loneliness, she and her partner (now her husband) split (it lasted seven years).
“That was three years hard time in Windsor,” she jokingly recalled.
Case returned to CFPL-TV in London as the producer and host of ‘One O’clock live’, a lifestyle program that was cancelled in 1997.
“Anyone famous coming through town would be on that show,” she said. “Unfortunately, there were lay-offs a few months later and I was among the group let go. I was not happy. I called my parents, who were in Jamaica, fuming and fully expecting them to say come visit us in Jamaica and lick your wounds. Instead, they said they were sorry I was unemployed and I should go and find another job. Looking back, that was great advice as I had just bought a house, I had bills to pay and I could not pity myself.”
Andria Case and actress Sheryl Lee Ralph (Photo contributed)
Reaching out to her networks in search of a job, Case called then CTV News Director Derwin Smith.
At the time, she didn’t know that CFPL-TV was part of the CTV-2 system owned by Bell Media.
“He told me he had just laid off several people and then was when I figured out what was happening,” said Case.
Desperately seeking employment, she was allowed to use a computer at night at CFPL-TV to fine-tune her resume.
“One night in there, I saw a bulletin board post for a videographer and I am thinking these people are nuts because I was just let go and now they are hiring one,” she said.
Case re-applied and was hired six weeks after being laid off.
One of her guests on the ‘One O’clock Live’ show was former Minister of National Revenue Garth Turner who founded several newspapers in Ontario before entering politics.
After losing his seat in the 1993 federal election, he became a public speaker, travelling the country. He was also CTV’s Business Reporter.
Very busy and working on an RRSP special for the network, Turner invited Case to write, produce and co-host the show with him.
“I was like ‘What’ and his response was ‘Andria, you would be great’,” she recounted. “I came to CFTO studio in Toronto for a couple of weeks and literally put together the show for an audience. It was crazy because I had never done something like this before. Garth’s faith in me was astounding. He would say ‘I would be back on Friday and we will shoot on Monday’.”
Obviously impressed with her work, Turner asked Case to be his back-up in Toronto.
“After I had a meeting with CTV executives, including Ted Stuebing to approve Garth’s recommendation, he called me, saying there was a problem,” she said. “When I asked what it was, he said, ‘they want to offer you a job’. He said I has a choice which was I could work for him as a Business Producer backup/anchor or I could work at CFTO as a Reporter.”
Cousins Andria Case (l) and sickle cell awareness patient advocate Serena Thompson (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Offered a six-month contract by CTV, Case bluntly told Stuebing she would not leave if she accepted the offer.
“He asked what I meant and I told Ted this company screwed me around too much,” she said. “I was terminated and moved around and I made it known that if I come here, I am mot leaving. He reiterated it was a six-month contract and I said ‘we will see about that’.”
Filling in for a staff member who returned after a six-month-month parental leave, Case got her big break a few weeks later when Mike Katrycz, who went on to become Vice President, News at CHCH, quit after 15 years as a CTV Reporter.
“There was a full-time job available and I had my name on it,” she said. “I was right. I am never leaving.”
Starting as a General Assignment Video journalist, Case was an Entertainment Anchor when she was approached in 2001 to anchor the station’s weekend newscasts.
“When they told me about this job I had not applied for, I said I was not interested,” she said. “I was working Monday to Friday from 10.30 am. to 6.30 p.m. with weekends and holidays off. There was no shift in television that was better than that. Anchoring on weekends means you have to work every weekend and on holidays because you are the backup. When I told Derwin and the Assistant News Director I was happy with what I was doing, they looked at me and said this is what everybody wants and we are offering you it. I said I am good and Derwin said he would give me a week to think about it.”
Andria Case was the recipient of a 2023 Harry Jerome Award (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
After consulting with family, friends and co-workers who assured her it is the job most reporters aspire to do, Case accepted the role.
In her 26th year with CTV, she is the longest serving Toronto weekend anchor.
Case lists interviews with Oprah Winfrey and breaking the story of 1994 National Hockey League (NHL) top draft pick Ed Jovanoski arrest in 1995 for sexual assault among her most memorable journalism moments.
“I have got Oprah on as my cover a couple of times,” she said. “She walks and talks. She does not stop as she is there for the photo. You have to lob a question at her that will make her stop. I have done that a few times and she put on the brakes and gave me what I need.”
2023 Harry Jerome Award winner Andria Case (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
In early 1995, Case received a call from an individual identifying himself as a cop claiming a woman was assaulted and it appeared police officers were not taking the allegation seriously.
He suggested they meet at a Tim Hortons and, after identifying himself as a police officer, provided the woman’s name and telephone number, where the alleged assault took place and the names of the hockey players involved.
“I drove over to Jovanoski’s home and he is out in front washing his new jeep,” said Case. “I say, ‘Hey Eddie’, he said ‘Hey Andria’ and I asked if there was a party last night. The look on his face told me something went on. He said ‘No’, turned off the hose, ran inside his house and closed the door. I called the woman and the person who answered hung up on me. I drove to her apartment, someone answered the door and I could hear crying inside. Her friend comes out and tells me to ‘F…off’. I knew something was up. I tried a few different ways, but nothing was happening as the cops were not talking.”
Back in the newsroom that day filing another story, she heard a cop say on the police scanner that he was going to the area where Jovanoski resided.
“I then heard another officer say, ‘You want back up, you want back up’,’’ said Case who has covered the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) for more than two decades. “He said, ‘No, no, I will be fine’. Right away, it occurred to me they were taking Jovanoski in.”
Andria Case on the red carpet at TIFF (Photo contributed)
Rushing to the hockey player’s house to see what was going on, she saw a cop car pulling away with him in the backseat.
“I got to the station at the same time they were walking him out of the car and that was the only shot we needed,” noted Case who volunteered at Rogers Cable TV. “That was the shot that went around the world.”
The charges against Jovanoski and two other Windsor Spitfire teammates were dropped by the Crown Attorney at a pretrial hearing in August 1995 due to a lack of convincing evidence.
Despite a busy work schedule, Case finds time to host events, sit on volunteer committees and work closely with foundations, including Meagan Bebenek. In 2001 at age five, the little girl succumbed to a rare brain tumour that attacks only children.
Andria Case on the red carpet at the inaugural Legacy Awards in 2022 (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
She was also a member of the Toronto Police Service Officer of the Year selection panel.
“If you ask and I am available, I will do it,” said the veteran broadcaster and anchor who turns 60 later this month. “Sadly, a lot of events are on the weekend.”
By donating her time, Case feels she is thanking citizens for watching her on television.
