DETROIT – After more than 4 decades on WWJ radio, morning anchor Joe Donovan quit while on-air Friday morning.
He has not commented publicly about what led to his resignation.
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At the end of his Friday broadcast he said, "Good-bye Detroit. Thank you for listening all these years."
Co-workers said they were shocked by his leaving.
"He had a great voice and he was very smart. He was a great writer," said Dick Kernen or Spec Howard School of Media Arts. "You will look long and hard to find anybody who ever worked with him who will ever say a bad word about him."
Donovan worked for the all-news radio station since 1976.
Donovan described his career in radio on the Detroit.cbslocal website:
There is nothing like being on the air when a major story begins to break. After more than three decades at WWJ, I feel the same excitement as the first day we began broadcasting the latest news the minute you want it. The change in the tools to do that has been incredible, from old time clunking teletype machines to high-speed internet and worldwide digital communications. Still, my favorite technology is old fashioned book. Reading is my favorite pastime, especially non-fiction and biography. The most fun part of my day is researching and assembling my daily on-air and web "Joe Donovan's Detroit History".
Watch: Joe Donovan remembers Sonny Eliot
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