WLS traffic reporter Roz Varon will retire after 35 years at the Chicago ABC-owned station.
The station said Varon was Chicago’s first TV traffic reporter on the morning news and one of the first TV traffic reporters in the country.
“Roz’s expertise and connection to our viewers are the reasons she has been our top traffic and transportation reporter for more than three decades,” said president and general manager John Idler. “Chicagoans know they can count on Roz to avoid a jam. We applaud Roz as she puts an exclamation point on an outstanding career.”
“There’s no doubt that Roz’s pioneering efforts on the traffic beat have paved the way for others in Chicago and around the country,” said Graves. “In addition to her dedication to ABC 7, Roz, a stage 4 breast cancer survivor, has also been a fierce advocate in the fight against breast cancer. We congratulate Roz on her many achievements, professionally and personally.”
Varon joined the station as the morning traffic anchor in 1989. She expanded her role by providing coverage of the transportation beat and later, Weekender, her series featuring a weekly roundup of metro Chicago events.
The station said her final day will be Friday, April 5.
We asked WLS about the byline, which shows Varon wrote the article about her own retirement.