Before Ron Magers stepped down as an anchor at Chicago ABC-owned station WLS, he sat down with former co-anchor Carol Marin on PBS affiliate WTTW to look back on his career.
“For almost 13 years, from 1985 to 1997, I shared an anchor desk at NBC Chicago with Ron Magers and I marveled at how easily and seamlessly he could handle any situation, especially breaking news,” said Marin, introducing the longtime anchor.
Magers admitted he doesn’t have the passion for the business he once had, but expressed hope in the next generation of anchors and reporters.
“What I really hope about television news is that somewhere right now, there’s a 21-year-old coming into this business with the passion that I had then and the eagerness to have the fights and the desire to move the business forward,” said Magers.
He also expressed his frustration with forced immediacy in local news.
“My current pet peeve is breaking news,” Magers told Marin. “Breaking news is a great idea. If there’s breaking news, you should do it. And people are interested in breaking news. But if you label everything breaking news, you become that fanatic that clings to the idea until the idea is no good anymore.”
“For me to look back on 50 years of doing this and say, ‘Wow’” said Magers. “I not only got to keep working, I got to reach the point where I knew it was time to go away.”