Longtime WDIV Anchor Steve Garagiola Announces Retirement

Steve Garagiola

Longtime WDIV anchor and reporter Steve Garagiola has announced his retirement after 27 years with the station. Garagiola made the news public in a Facebook post on Wednesday (12/1) and here’s what he had to say:

Those of you who know me well, know that I am not one for long emotional goodbyes. So, I have waited until now to post this. My hope is to avoid the question, “Hey, whatever happened to Steve?” I am retiring. My final day on the air at Local-4 is this coming Sunday (12/5).

For the past 27 years, Local-4 has been my TV family where I have had the pleasure of working with many of the most talented, honest, and dedicated people in this industry. I will miss that, and miss regular contact with all of those good people. I’ll have to surrender my key card for the back door… but hope I will always be welcome to visit.

A St. Louis native, Garagiola grew up in New York and has lived in the Detroit region most of his life. He started out at Lansing’s WILX-TV in 1977 and joined WDIV in 1995 as a sports reporter. His career took a major turn soon after, while in Atlanta covering the 1996 Summer Olympics he found himself reporting hard news when a bomb exploded in the city’s Centennial Park. Upon his return home, he officially switched to news reporting.

He’s also an author and cook. He published “The I Only Need One Cookbook — Cookbook” in 2015.