‘Thank you from my heart’: Loren McGinnis announces departure as host of The Trailbreaker | CBC News

Loren McGinnis, host of CBC’s The Trailbreaker, will be leaving the North. McGinnis is set to join CBC Calgary’s team to host their morning show, The Eyeopener.

It was with great emotion that he made the announcement on the Wednesday edition of N.W.T. morning radio show.

“I didn’t ever think I’d leave Yellowknife and the North … I kind of thought I’d host The Trailbreaker until they had to wheel me right out of here,” he said.

“Thank you, máhsi, mársı, quyanainni, quana for all the support, for all the stories, the kindness, the listening, the northern decency … thank you from my heart.”

McGinnis, originally from B.C., began as an intern at CBC Edmonton before working as a reporter, producer and host. He joined the team at CBC North as a reporter in 2007 and started hosting The Trailbreaker in April 2013.

He moved to Yellowknife in 2007, taking his broadcasts to dozens of communities, including live from an evacuation camp in Fort Simpson, N.W.T., after flooding displaced residents of the region. He won an RTDNA award for that work.

McGinnis’s last day with CBC North — and his last broadcast of The Trailbreaker — will be Dec. 9.

He’ll be making the move to Calgary with his wife, a Calgary-born special education teacher; his two sons, ages five and eight; and their husky-shepherd pup, Murray.