In an announcement that came on Monday, December 15, Detroit-based FOX personality Rob Wolchek, an anchor of FOX 2 Detroit, announced that he would be retiring from the network after spending nearly three decades on the job exposing frauds and scams in the Metro Detroit area.
For reference, Wolchek started off as a radio DJ who broadcast country music to listeners, and eventually turned to KNX radio in Los Angeles, where he worked as a traffic reporter. It was while there that he got his first job as a television intern, and worked his way up the ranks until he received his first big break, covering the 1989 San Francisco earthquake. After that, he took a job as a full-time reporter in Bakersfield, before eventually moving to Detroit.
Describing that experience of moving to Detroit and working for decades in the same role in his retirement announcement broadcast, Wolchek said, “I’ve been an investigative reporter here at FOX 2 for 28 years, and I love my job that said I can’t do it forever, so I’ve decided to retire in March.”
Noting that he feels he is a good age to retire and now will have more time to spend with his family, particularly his grandchild, Wolchek said, “I’ll be 67 years old, and I just feel like it’s time to spend more time with my wife and kids and grandchild and not have to come to work five days a week.”
He then commented on what it was like moving to Detroit and unexpectedly setting up shop for good there. Beginning that aspect of his commentary, he said, “When I came here to Detroit from California in 1997 to work as a hall of shame reporter, I didn’t know anyone here. Detroit was supposed to just be a stop along the way in my career, but it became home.”
And, speaking to his viewers directly, he noted what it was like to carry the responsiblity of exposing how frauds have cheated them, saying, “You, the wonderful viewers, have embraced me and shown me way more love than I ever expected. I’ve met so many of you, brave people who’ve told me your stories that’s hard, especially after getting cheated.”
Building on that, he noted why he stayed in Detroit, saying, “You’ve trusted me to get some kind of justice, whether it’s your money back or just the satisfaction of seeing the person that did you wrong get put on the spot I stayed here in Detroit, and plan to stay here because of you the people of Metro Detroit now, I stayed at FOX 2, because this station has always had my back.”
"*" indicates required fields
Adding to that by describing how the network supported him, he said, “They let me do my stories my way. They were patient enough to give me time to do thorough investigations, and I work with the most talented camera people, editors, producers and stage crews in the country. Now, I’ll still be around doing some Hall of shame stories for the next few months.”
Concluding, he indicated he might occasionally still appear for his viewers, saying, “I still got some bad guys to catch, and who knows, I may pop up on FOX 2 on a part-time basis after I retire. I’d like that, because honestly, I love my job.” Watch him here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video