News anchor Steve Karlin set to retire from KCCI in March

Local news heavyweight Steve Karlin is leaving KCCI after more than three decades at the station.

The longtime host of the nightly news at central Iowa’s local ratings leader is set to retire on March 1 of next year, according to a KCCI news release on Tuesday.

The Iowa State University alum first joined the KCCI team in 1989 as a reporter and weekend weather anchor. Karlin and KCCI’s Stacey Horst teamed up to anchor the nightly news in 2015, a post the local news legend has held for seven years.

As an Iowa native, Karlin said the chance to host a newscast in central Iowa was an honor.

“I have had a storybook career at KCCI,” Karlin said in the news release. “Not many people get to spend their entire career doing the job they love, at a place they love, in service to the wonderful people of their home state. I am a very lucky guy."

The Iowa City native received a National Edward R. Murrow Award in 2007 and has been awarded five regional Emmy Awards for best newscast as well as numerous local and regional journalism awards.

Karlin is a longtime advocate for mental health access, working alongside the state’s chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and has been open with the public about his own struggles with depression.

KCCI news director Allison Smith said the local CBS station will miss the evening newsman.

“Steve is the consummate storyteller. He is passionate about writing and making each story memorable,” Smith said in a statement Tuesday. “He leaves behind a legacy of leadership in the Des Moines community and as a mentor for so many journalists.”

Jay Stahl is an entertainment reporter at The Des Moines Register. Follow him on Instagram, Twitter, or reach out at jstahl@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Steve Karlin leaving KCCI in March 2023 after decades at TV station