Longtime Detroit Anchor Retiring After 30 Years

Crime & Safety

Longtime Detroit Anchor Retiring After 30 Years Famed Detroit news anchor Devin Scillian said his last broadcast will be in December.

DETROIT, MI — After nearly 30 years on the air in Detroit, a beloved local newscaster is saying goodbye.

This week, WDIV-TV anchor Devin Scillian announced he will sign off for the last time on Dec. 13. He joined the station in 1995.

In a " special message " to viewers, Scillian reflected on his career at the station, giving a nod to predecessor Mort Crim, who spent nearly 20 years at WDIV.

"And as we draw closer to what will be my 30th America's Thanksgiving Day Parade, I am astonished at the passage of three decades in what feels like the snap of my fingers," he wrote. "But it recently dawned on me that I am now almost exactly the age that Mort Crim was when I came to Detroit to try to follow in his legendary footsteps."

During his Tuesday night newscast, Scillian told viewers he's "decided it's time to move on to the next chapter of what's been a most enjoyable and gratifying book." Native Kansans, Scillian said he and his wife arrived in Michigan in the mid-1990s, and " feel very much like Michiganders today ."

The longtime anchor told the Detroit Free Press his decision to leave was influenced by but not tied to the departures of four longtime colleagues in July. Sports anchor Bernie Smilovitz and reporters Mara MacDonald, Rod Meloni and Paula Tutman accepted buyouts as part of a voluntary retirement incentive program over the summer, the outlet reported.

Scillian ended his message to viewers, saying, "I feel like the luckiest guy on the planet. (I always have.) And I will be spending a lot of time over these next two months trying to express my gratitude to you for welcoming me into your home and trusting me with what I feel is a deeply important and profound task."