[1] Following his graduation, he worked in student services for Dawson College, and as campaign manager for Nick Auf der Maur in his first Montreal City Council election.

CTV reporter Scott Lightfoot remarked, "I went to university twice, I took a lot of courses, I never had another professor offer to make phone calls on my behalf.

"[16] During the 1980s and 1990s, he was a frequent contributor to and sometime guest host of Morningside,[13] for which he often produced human interest documentaries and audio essays about everyday people and places.

[20] Released in 1992, Welcome Home: Travels in Smalltown Canada[23] featured stories from seven small communities, and won the Canadian Authors Association for best non-fiction book in 1993.

[24] McLean often reported for CBC news programs The Journal and The National, where he focused on human interest stories, talking to "regular people" and delving into their often funny or poignant experiences.

These segments about everyday people helped to inspire The Vinyl Cafe, which in the same vein looked at the lives of average Canadians.

[7] In 1994, McLean launched The Vinyl Cafe as a summer series featuring stories about a fictional second-hand record store.

[32] McLean's books of stories from The Vinyl Cafe won the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour three times.

[36] CBC Radio's documentary series The Doc Project produced a special episode after McLean's death, re-airing his 1979 Sunday Morning documentary "The New Goldrush",[37] while Cross Country Checkup devoted a tribute episode to its own version of the Arthur Awards, asking callers to share stories of acts of kindness that had made a difference in their lives.