Longtime Chicago anchor retiring

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Alan Krashesky, who has worked at Chicago’s ABC-owned WLS for forty years, announced he’s retiring in November 2022 during an Oct. 5, 2022’s newscast.

Krashesky’s announcement came 40 years to the day of his first day at WLS, Oct. 4, 1982.

His last day at the station will be Nov. 22, 2022, which notably falls during the November ratings period.

“This job is the fulfillment of the dream I had when I first walked in the door at WLS-TV 40 years ago at the age of 21,” Krashesky said. “Over the past four decades, I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have worked alongside some of the best broadcast journalists in the business — and I’m honored that the people of the Chicago area chose to trust us and welcome us into their homes.”

Krashesky currently anchors the station’s top-rated 5, 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts, having succeeded Ron Magers as primary male co-anchor in 2016.

The station did not announce who would replace him on those newscasts. Cheryl Burton co-anchors the 5 and 10 p.m. newscasts with him.

Krashesky will turn 62 later in October 2022.

In the years surrounding the shift from Magers to Krashesky, WLS had a string of high-profile talent retire, including the late meteorologist Jerry Taft, Linda Yu and Kathy Brock, but had a relatively stable lineup of talent waiting in the wings.

A natural replacement for Krashesky could be Rob Elgas, who WLS lured from NBC-owned WMAQ in 2015 and currently anchors at 4 p.m., though it’s possible the station could go with another choice from either in-house or another station or even outside the city.

WLS does tend to hire from within and prepares well in advance for talent retirements, such as its notably smooth transitions after Taft, Yu and Brock retired.

With Taft, it had Cheryl Scott and Larry Mowry waiting in the wings. Mowry appears at 4 and 6 p.m., with Scott handling 5 and 10 p.m. The station notably has not named either of them chief meteorologist despite that title frequently being held by the forecaster appearing on the station’s late news.

When Yu retired, the station moved Judy Hsu from mornings, moving Tanja Babich beside Terrell Brown. Babich had been a contributing anchor during mornings until she took over in 2018.

Brock, meanwhile, was replaced with Burton, who had been a longtime contributing anchor to the station’s evening newscasts, often serving as a de facto third anchor.