Longtime CKWS-TV / Global News sports reporter Mike Postovit is among sixteen new inductees announced this week by the Queen’s University Football Hall of Fame. The storied football program is adding eight new members in the builders category and eight players to be enshrined at induction ceremonies in September.

This is the first time media members will be honoured. Joining Postovit will be former CKWS sports greats Max Jackson & Doug Jeffries, along with former Whig Standard sports editor Claude Scilley. Postovit covered the Gaels for 41-years during his lengthy career at CKWS-TV / Global News.

Other builders include Frank Halligan, a longtime high school coach and former Gaels football assistant coach.

The former Gaels players to be honoured include Kingston’s Joel Dagnone and quarterback Tim Pendergast, both standouts on Queen’s 1992 Vanier Cup winning team.

When Corus Entertainment made the shocking announcement last summer they were shuttering the TV and radio stations on Queen Street, there was no special tribute or final on-air goodbye for Postovit and his colleagues in the newsroom (including Bill Hutchins the longest serving news anchor in station history).

Postovit and the legendary Floyd Patterson are the only two broadcasters in the history of CKWS-TV & radio that were on-air at the station for over 40-years.

Despite that sudden, crushing blow of the station closing and his career ending, for Postovit there was still work to be done. Tucked away at the station were decades of boxed up photos, documents, audio tapes and video tapes. Most of it had not seen the light of day for years and it was destined for the dumpster.

Typical of Postovit he decided to do something about it. Even though he was no longer on the payroll, he spent the next six months volunteering his time to meticulously organize and itemize decades of broadcast tapes featuring the on-air talent and shows that were broadcast from the CKWS studios.

The hidden gems uncovered included CKWS-TV news specials on Royal Visits, the Ice Storm, Election Night coverage and local syndicated programming like the popular ‘Harrigan Show.’  Along with many classic local TV commercials.

We all should be grateful for Mike’s efforts to single-handedly preserve this important piece of Kingston history that not only reflects the vast collection of local content produced by CKWS, but also captures most of Kingston’s most notable citizens over the decades.

Queen’s University archives collected the items for permanent preservation. 

Postovit was born and raised in Windsor, ON. and from a young age had a passion for sports. His father, John, would take him to Red Wings games at the old Detroit Olympia and baseball games at historic Tiger Stadium.

Like many future broadcasters, Postovit loved listening to games on radio. Summer nights spent with Hall of Famer Ernie Harwell calling Tigers games on WJR radio in Detroit. In the winter, it was Budd Lynch and later Bruce Martyn on WJR doing the play by play of the Red Wings games.

His mother, Elizabeth, was a nurse at Grace hospital in Windsor for 35-years and his father was a 40-year employee at the Ford Motor plant. After high school Mike followed in his Dad’s footsteps landing a job in the foundry at Ford making moulds for auto parts.

A few years went by and Mike still had the itch to work in sports. He had socked away a few dollars while working at the Ford plant and made the bold decision to quit and pursue a career in broadcasting.

Postovit was accepted into the Broadcast Journalism program at Loyalist College in Belleville under the direction of former CKWS radio icon Bryan Olney.

He graduated in 1983 and landed a part-time job at CKWS-TV in Kingston anchoring the late-night weekend sports. Throughout the week he kept busy as a volunteer curator at the International Hockey Hall of Fame and sat on the board for the Kingston chapter of the Kidney Foundation.

During those years he was a goaltender on the CKWS No-Stars teams and played in local men’s league pickup games with the ‘Posties’ from the Kingston Post Office. He was also a surehanded middle infielder in the Kingston Senior Men’s Baseball League.

It took nearly four years to secure a full-time position at CKWS in 1987, where he became the Swiss army knife of the newsroom. Working both radio and TV, covering news and sports, he did whatever was asked of him.

In 1990 he married his wife, Pauline, and they recently celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary.

‘Posto’ as he is known to most, earned a reputation among his colleagues in the newsroom as someone who was always dependable, flexible, and willing to go the extra mile to get a story.

A fixture at every local sporting event, lugging his camera equipment and shining a light on local athletes.

When the station was shuttered last year, longtime friend and former CKWS Sports Director Doug Jeffries paid tribute to Postovit,  “Mike leaves behind a sports legacy that few have matched. He never liked being in front of the camera, his forte was behind the scenes, seeking out and telling stories with his incredible camera work.”

Doug added, “I can speak from experience when I say Mike was passionate about local sports, he went above and beyond to highlight athletes from Kingston and across Eastern Ontario. I cannot tell you how many times he worked overtime (without being paid) to shoot a Voyageurs game, a lacrosse contest, or a Ponies match at Megaffin. He did it because he cared about local sports.”

Posto earned the highest respect and admiration from the local sports community, loyal viewers and his former colleagues at the station for his tireless work as a champion for Kingston sports.

As someone who always made it about everyone else, Mike Postovit is finally being recognized for everything he has done for his adopted hometown of Kingston.  

The induction ceremony will be held Sept 26^th at Isabelle Bader Centre

Mark Potter is a longtime broadcaster, former colleague of Mike Postovit at CKWS and an honoured member of the Kingston & District Sports Hall of Fame