 When WCVB-TV was acquired by Metromedia in 1982 for the highest price then ever paid for a local television station, Gillis was one of many stockholders who profited handsomely from the transaction.He retired from NewsCenter 5 broadcasts a year after the sale, although his son, Gary Gillis, continued as a sportscaster and sports anchor in the market for the city's Channel 7, which assumed the WHDH-TV call-letters in 1990.Don Gillis would continue to host the Saturday afternoon "Candlepin Bowling" show on WCVB until its cancellation on January 27, 1996.