14 Facts About Irv Weinstein

Irwin B "Irv" Weinstein was an American local television news anchor and occasional radio actor.

Irv Weinstein hosted WKBW-TV's Eyewitness News in Buffalo, New York, for 34 years, from 1964 to 1998, becoming an iconic broadcaster well known in both the Buffalo area and in Southern Ontario, which was within WKBW's broadcast area.

Irv Weinstein was paid $7 a day for his work on WHAM, in which Weinstein, whose voice was already mature by the age of 15, would often play the roles of adults.

Irv Weinstein initially hoped to pursue an acting career, but a conversation with Robert Mitchum, who warned Weinstein of a shortage of opportunities in the entertainment industry, convinced Weinstein to attend broadcasting school in New York City instead.

Irv Weinstein was hired as a newscaster at WKBW Radio in Buffalo in 1958, a role he chose to be closer to his hometown; initially working under Art Wander, Weinstein eventually became news director.

In 1964, Irv Weinstein was hired as news director and anchorman at sister station WKBW-TV, an ABC Network affiliate.

In 1968, Irv Weinstein briefly returned to his broadcast beginnings as an actor in WKBW radio's Halloween adaptation of Orson Welles' War of the Worlds.

Irv Weinstein appeared in a 1971 remake, which was re-run in 1998.

In 1991, Irv Weinstein was caught in a hot mic moment when he critiqued, often harshly, the talent on the station, which was inadvertently made public.

Irv Weinstein was considered a quintessential part of Buffalo culture during his time with WKBW and beyond.

Irv Weinstein, who shifted away from the sensationalist approach toward the end of his career, explained that the reason he reported on arson so much compared to, for example, Toronto, was a practical one: Toronto had most of its wood structures burnt down in the 1904 Great Fire of Toronto, while Buffalo still had a large stock of wood-frame houses, and thus there were indeed more fires in Buffalo than in Toronto.

Irv and Elaine Weinstein were married from 1955 until his death.

In summer 2016, Irv Weinstein was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, after first experiencing symptoms of the disease in March.

Irv Weinstein died in Mission Viejo on December 26,2017, aged 87, from complications of the disease.