Renick was unopposed as a South Florida anchor from 1949 when WTVJ aired programs from all networks via kinescopes, until it became exclusively a CBS affiliate in 1956.

Despite a strong attempt to challenge Renick and WTVJ over the years, he remained the dominant and number one rated news anchor for his entire 36-year run.

Renick pushed WTVJ to pioneer video tape and ENG (Electronic News Gathering) in late 1974 and by November 1975 had the state's first truly mobile live truck up and running.

Shortly after 3:00 pm on November 30, 1975, Renick broke into regular programming to report an attempted assassination on Ronald Reagan, in town for a speech at the Miami Airport Ramada Inn.

The station was acquired by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), an investment firm, for $1 billion, then the largest leveraged buyout in U.S.

After the acquisition, KKR began to structure WTVJ's newsroom differently in the more traditional way of the 1980s with multiple persons in management, and slowly stripped Renick of that authority, making it uncomfortable for him to continue within his unique role as the station's top anchor, editorialist, news director, and vice president for news.

[7] After spending the last months of his life hospitalized, Renick died on July 11, 1991, at Cedars Medical Center in Miami of complications from hepatitis and liver disease.

When WTVJ's analog nightlight service ended on June 26, 2009, long-time anchor Bob Mayer said farewell, and ended the analog transmission by running archive footage of Renick uttering his sign-off catchphrase, freeze-framing as he smiles, accompanied by a short, bombastic orchestral piece.