Linda Yu, the 4 p.m. anchor on top-rated WLS-Channel 7 for more than 30 years, will step down from the station in November, the station said Tuesday.
While the WLS announcement called her departure a retirement, Yu said in a note to the newsroom staff that she will “move on,” adding, “Notice, I didn’t say “retire” .. since I can’t imagine retirement!”
She plans to anchor her final newscast on Nov. 23. Morning anchor Judy Hsu will take her place alongside Rob Elgas the next day, with Tanja Babich replacing Hsu as Terrell Brown’s co-anchor on the morning news.
Judy Hsu | WLS photo
“Since Linda Yu began anchoring the 4 p.m. news in 1984 it has been the No. 1 newscast for 32 years — an astonishing winning streak, WLS president and general manager John Idler said in a statement. “Linda is a class act who leaves a remarkable legacy at ABC 7. She will be truly missed by everyone at ABC 7 and her many loyal viewers throughout Chicago.”
A Chinese native, Yu spent five years at WMAQ-Channel 5 before jumping to ABC7.
Yu said in her note that she is grateful to a city that embraced her “from the icy winter days when I was a reporter and concerned viewers called in to suggest I needed more protection from the elements; to the special reports that may have made life a bit safer for children; to anchoring during breaking news and a viewer telling me that ‘when things go wrong, you make me feel safe.’ ”
She said she plans to spend more time with her children in California and work on a follow-up to her 2015 Chinese-language book “Living and Working in America, 15 Lessons.”
