"My life has taken a turn."

A longtime news anchor delivers his own news.

We come to you with a rare weekend update, not due to any major breaking industry news, but out of appreciation and admiration for one man’s announcement this past Friday night.

The surprising, if not shocking to some, announcement came from longtime WABC-TV anchor Bill Ritter in the midst of Friday’s 6 pm newscast. The words, delivered in Ritter’s signature tone, were heard but didn’t really register at first. Our friends, who are viewers in the market, told us they were listening, as many of us often do during the evening newscast while engaged in some other activity. Perhaps making or eating dinner. Looking at their phones or out the window. Going about life as it normally is when the words landed in the active part of the brain.

“What was that? Did he just say this was his last newscast?”

Attention now fully locked in to exactly what the man appearing on the screen was saying. And yes, Bill Ritter had just told his viewers that this indeed would be his final time in the anchor chair of “Eyewitness News at 6 pm.” There had been no fanfare, no long build-up to the announcement. No week of career retrospective or countless messages from celebrities and colleagues wishing him the best.

Just there in the 6 pm newscast, coming out of a commercial break, one man looking straight to camera, delivering one of the most personal messages anyone has likely seen during a local TV newscast. And as he has done on countless occasions over his 28 years with ABC’s flagship station in New York City, Bill Ritter delivered the details of what had led him to his decision.

As he had a year ago, when he told the audience of his decision to cut back his workload at reaching the age of 75, and that he was moving from anchoring the station’s weekday 5 pm and 11 pm newscasts to only anchoring at 6 pm, Ritter explained that in becoming a grandfather for the first time, with a second opportunity to be one coming this year, and his youngest daughter graduating high school next year, he was deciding to spend more time with his family.

But also because, in his words, “My life has taken a turn.”

The diagnosis, after a series of recent tests: Alzheimer’s.

The progressive neurodegenerative disorder that nearly seven and a half million Americans over the age of 65 are living with. The one that has no cure and is ultimately fatal.

Bill Ritter, the 76-year-old man who anchored New York’s most-watched nightly local newscast for nearly 25 years, was telling us that he was now one of them. Worldwide, a new Alzheimer’s diagnosis is made every 3.2 seconds, according to Alzheimer’s Disease International.

Ritter is no stranger to the disease. His father died from it in 1988. Since then, he has been active in efforts to fund research to find new treatments and advance a cure. He told his audience that he plans to stay on at the station and report on those developments, as well as the significant economic impacts of treating and caring for people with Alzheimer’s and related diseases.

And he was staying on to help, as he put it, “the younger journalists at Eyewitness News.” He quickly added that at age 76, “everyone in the newsroom is younger than I am.”

(Before our own departure from a TV newsroom some 18 months ago, we were reminded on a near-daily basis of the growing age gap between us and the majority of our colleagues, who seemed to keep getting younger. And younger.)

Over the decades we have worked in local TV newsrooms, we have witnessed countless on-air colleagues say their goodbyes to the audience. They were always heartfelt and often emotional. Bill Ritter’s version was definitely from the heart, but with the kind of sincerity and warmth that made each person watching feel like he was speaking just with them.

Bill Ritter took over as anchor of Eyewitness News from the legendary Bill Beutel in 1999. It was a huge job to follow an anchor of Beutel’s stature and popularity in New York City. Like Beutel, Ritter had transitioned from working as a reporter on the network level at ABC to the local anchor desk at WABC-TV. Ritter found his success in leaning into his ability to deliver the news with a deft balance of anchorman gravitas and genuine humanity.

So much so that we’d recommend you watch his announcement. (We’ve linked it for you here.) It is a true masterclass in conveying a difficult, personal message in a way only those who have mastered the art of communication can. No wonder the guy set the record for being part of the station's longest-running anchor team.

Ritter noted about his own diagnosis: “It’s ‘early stage’ Alzheimer’s, and they say the treatments I’m getting are keeping it at bay. For now. But there is no guarantee, because there’s no cure yet for Alzheimer’s. So, unless someone finds an amazing cure, and soon, tonight (Friday) will be the last newscast I anchor.”

He went on to acknowledge his co-anchors and point out that he and his newscast producer had worked together for 25 and a half years, calling out that they were “a Muslim producer and a Jewish anchor.” He added hopefully, “It’s what the melting pot of New York and the Tri-State - and I would hope the country - is all about.

We’ve never met Bill Ritter. We know some of the same people in this business, and by all accounts he is “a class act.” His announcement that he was leaving the anchor desk was the same. We wish him the very best in the next chapter of his life’s journey.

One more thought before we let you get back to your own life, already in progress.

We have reached that stage in the proceedings where each day brings some news on the well-being of family and friends. Alas, much of it isn’t as good as we’d like it to be. Health concerns (along with the affordability of addressing them) are the dominant topic in those stories.

We know that navigating the medical system for every issue, both large and small, can be tough. But allow us to encourage you not to be daunted by it. Make the time, see the professionals, and give all aspects of your own health the priority it deserves.

As anyone who has ever written a news story anywhere can tell you, it is so much better to have one with a happy ending.

-30-