9News’ Gary Shapiro Interview About His Retirement Decision

Gary Shapiro, anchor of 9News‘s ultra-successful morning-news broadcast, just announced his decision to retire in December after nearly four decades at the station, and he admits that schedule hasn’t been easy.

“It’s a brutal shift,” he notes. “You really have to love what you do. Luckily, I did love what I do for a long time.”

The life change has been in the works for a while. “I probably told them a year ago,” Shapiro says, referring to management. “My contract’s coming up, and I was like, ‘Do I want to do another contract?’ I’m getting up there” — he’s in his late sixties — “and I just decided the time is now.”

A native of Norfolk, Nebraska, Shapiro graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1975, and landed his first broadcasting job at a signal in Omaha, KETV, where he…