Final ‘Adventure Road’ for Jim Doney

Jim Doney, 1962-75 host of WJW-Channel 8’s daily "Adventure Road" filmed travelogues, died in Florida of bladder cancer Monday at the age of 88.

Jim Doney, left, Neil Zurcher

"He was the godfather of my One Tank Trips," said Neil Zurcher, who started his Channel 8 travel segments in 1979.

Cleveland native Doney was a 1944 graduate of Garfield High School.

He worked at WKB in Youngstown, WSRJ in Cleveland Heights,  and WTAM before he joined  WXEL, which became WJW, in 1952.

When "Adventure Road" went off the air in 1975 and news anchor no longer was a comfortable fit, Doney moved to Hawaii and started a 20-year run at the Honolulu CBS affiliate. He acted in four episodes of CBS’ "Hawaii Five-0."

Doney married Florence “Pinky” Calvin in the '50s. They were married for 47 years when she died in 1998.

To read former BJ pop culture critic Mark Dawdiziak’s article, click on http://www.cleveland.com/tv-blog/index.ssf/2014/09/jim_doney_channel_8s_longtime_adventure_road_host_dies_at_88.html#incart_river