Feature reporter Frank Mathie will retire from WLS 50 years to the day he first joined the Chicago ABC-owned station.
On April 3, 2017, Mathie, who started working freelance for the station in 2006, will officially retire from television.
Between Monday, March 27 and April 3, the station will celebrate “50 Years of Frank” by showing some of his best on-air moments.
“Frank has been a Chicago treasure both inside this newsroom and out in the community,” said vp and news director Jennifer Graves. “His inimitable style and sense of humor make you want to watch every story he tells and we look forward to showcasing his work through the decades. It must have been the luck of the Irish that sent Frank our way.”
He started his carer at WISN in Milwaukee as a film editor in 1964. Mathie says his big break came “because the booth announcer often came to work over-served, I was promoted to announcing and then got the thrilling opportunity to work in the newsroom.”
“It’s been a fabulous 50 years,” says Mathie. “I never could have dreamed that I would have a career like the one I had at ABC 7. I will always be grateful to management for giving me the freedom to do the stories in the way I thought they should be done, to my colleagues who supported me along the way and to the viewers who made it fun. A half-century doing the stories I love. What a lucky guy!”