[4] Born in Rochester, New York, to Jewish emigrants from Lithuania,[5] Weinstein began his broadcast career while he was in high school, working at WHAM Radio as an actor on several locally produced programs under the tutelage of Bill Hanrahan.

Weinstein's work on WHAM eventually led to a single national radio appearance, as a one-scene character on The Aldrich Family, for which he was paid $230, an unusually high sum for the day.

[5] He 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.

[9] A WKBW-TV promo for Eyewitness News included a jingle: In 1991, Weinstein was caught in a hot mic moment when he critiqued, often harshly, the talent on the station, which was inadvertently made public.

[12] In October 2004, Weinstein's status as "an icon of television journalism in Buffalo" was discussed on the floor of the Ontario Legislature by MPP Tim Hudak.

[6] At the time of his retirement, his 33-year tenure with WKBW was the longest for any news anchor with a single television station in Buffalo, a record that would stand until 2017 when Jacquie Walker of WIVB-TV surpassed Weinstein.

The Weinsteins' son, Marc, is co-owner of Amoeba Music, and their younger daughter, Rachel Lloyd, is an artist and theater administrator in the Pittsburgh area.

As of November 2016, he could no longer walk but still had full function of his arms and torso and was in good mental condition; he was given a prognosis of five years to live and could still speak (with some audible difficulty as the disease also affected his breathing).