WXXI News’ Alex Crichton is retiring Friday, after 42 years at the station and hosting All Things Considered in Rochester, N.Y.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
ALL THINGS CONSIDERED is heard across hundreds of local stations, hitting your radio on the drive home or on your smart speaker while you’re cooking dinner. And every evening, your local station’s hosts are part of this team, bringing the national news home to you.
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ALEX CRICHTON, BYLINE: This is WXXI News. I’m Alex Crichton. Good afternoon. Forty-seven degrees, a little sun downtown. The head…
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Well, tonight, people in the Rochester area in New York are hearing Alex Crichton’s last broadcast as the ALL THINGS CONSIDERED host for WXXI. He has been there ever since the station joined the NPR network back in the 1980s.
CRICHTON: We were set to sign on on July 2, 1984. So here I was – my new station, my new job – had no idea what the heck I was doing.
CHANG: Of the 45 years that Crichton spent on radio, 42 were at WXXI.
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CRICHTON: Governor Pataki, Senate Majority Leader Bruno, and Assembly Speaker…
CHANG: He was a real lover of radio, covering sports, producing news and music programs throughout his four-decade-long career. Then he began hosting this program alongside us in 2012.
SUMMERS: Looking ahead to life after retirement, he had this to say.
CRICHTON: I’m going to miss the routine of having a job and getting into it every morning, but I’m worn out.
SUMMERS: Ultimately, though, he’ll miss you, the people tuning in every day.
CRICHTON: I’m going to miss the listeners, and thanks for everything. It’s been a great ride, and here we go.
CHANG: Here we go. Alex Crichton signed on for the last time as a local host for WXXI this afternoon with our broadcast starting at 4 p.m. Eastern.
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CRICHTON: Here on FM 105.9 and AM 1370. We’re also online at wxxi.org. Alex Crichton along. It’s Friday, finally.
SUMMERS: And with that, we congratulate the work and contribution of Alex Crichton and wish him a happy retirement from the hosts and all of the listeners of the show.
CHANG: Congrats, Alex.
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