Fred Kalil is stepping down from his role as sports anchor at WXIA, the NBC affiliate in Atlanta.
Kalil said that complications from brain surgery 13 years ago make it difficult for him to anchor sports on the evening newscasts, a role he has held for 22 years.
“Reading the prompter has never been a lot of fun for me. Before I could remember what I was supposed to say. Now I can’t remember what I was supposed to say,” he said Tuesday on the evening newscast (video above). “It stinks. It stinks. It’s tough. It really is. I can’t tell you how hard it is to go out there and after every single show to think well, I did something — there’s something I can’t do now. I used to be able to do all this stuff in my sleep.”
WXIA said Kalil will continue to cover sports for the station. [h/t Access Atlanta]