Anchor legends Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson will sign off from the Chicago CBS owned station WBBM for the final time Thursday.
“I think we’ve benefited more than CBS,” Kurtis told Time Out Chicago‘s Robert Feder. “What fun to relive the best years of your life. Walter and I started co-anchoring in 1973. I was 33. He was 36 or 37, I think. Now we’re over 70.”
In their first run with WBBM, the two anchored the 10:00 pm. news from 1973 until 1982. They then returned to the Chicago station in 2010. They announced their most recent departure in August last year, handing the reins of their 6:00 p.m. newscast to Rob Johnson and Kate Sullivan.
“I think we both came to work seeing all these stories to be done and feeling the old juices flowing again,” Kurtis told Feder. “Then, like an old-timer who sees a pretty girl and realizes that doing something about it is nature’s payback, we realized that the younger reporters are very good. We enjoyed watching them fight the cold and rain as we sat by the fire and talked about the good old days.”
Kurtis plans to remain busy, though. He will continue his work with his production company, Kurtis Productions which produces the series “American Greed” for CNBC. He is also chairman and founder of the Tallgrass Beef Company, which markets itself as an environmentally friendly and healthier alternative to any other grass-fed beef on the market.
Kurtis also told Feder this may not be the last time he’ll team with Jacobson. ““We got a taste of having people actually interested in what we had to say. And it left a good taste.”