News Anchor Tearily Announces Departure from Network in Heartfelt Speech

A journalist in San Francisco broke out in tears while announcing his departure from his network after 10 years, while live on air.

During the Tuesday, Sept. 30 broadcast of ABC7 News Bay Area, Reggie Aqui celebrated his bittersweet 10th anniversary with the network before revealing that he was moving on from his position as an anchor.

“Alright, 10 years is a long time. In dog years, that’s like going from a puppy to a senior,” he reflected while sitting behind the news desk. “Had I been good at math and science, I could’ve been a doctor or a scientist in those 10 years.”

Continuing, he added, “If this were a 10-year wedding anniversary, I would have a gift of tin or aluminum, so put me in Reynolds wrap because this is both my 10-year work anniversary and my last day here at ABC7 News.”

Aqui jokingly said that he was “proudest” of winning a Murrow Award, before admitting that the organization had not actually awarded him.

“So it’s not industry accolades,” he said, adding that he also didn’t think he could sort through “something like 8,500 hours of news shows” over the last decade to determine a favorite moment on air.

Instead, he said, “I think my proudest moment, and the thing I’m going to take away from this experience, [is] my relationships that we built.”

Pointing to the camera, he got emotional while referring to his viewers as his “co-anchors.”

“I’m including you because you are always a part of this,” he said through tears. “Of course, I don’t know all your names. But when I meet you on the street, at the store or in my DMs, you tell me that we make your day just a little bit better and the news a little easier to swallow.”

The longtime broadcaster quoted a personal statement, saying, “Everything is bad, only it isn’t,” and saying that he “tried every day to give us all a softer place to land.”

“So, I’m going to take those relationships, including my daily one with you, I’m going to take that over an Emmy,” he noted.

Wrapping up his speech, he added, “Ten years. I’m so happy it happened. I am sad that it’s over, and that’s perfect because that is my favorite kind of emotion: happy and sad.”

Aqui shared a clip of the broadcast on Instagram, captioning it, “Not sure what’s next, other than a much-deserved nap. What a ride that was.”

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A reason for his departure has not yet been revealed.

His bio on ABC7 noted that he joined the newsroom in October 2015 after previously working in cities such as Portland, Ore. and Atlanta.

“Dolly Parton remains the favorite interview of my career,” he shared in his biography. “She surprised me live on CNN.com with a proposal to sing a duet. We sang ‘Islands in the Stream’ and I will never do anything cooler in my whole life.”

Aqui and his husband Phil live in the San Francisco area, and he proudly admitted to being “obsessed with Disney theme parks,” noting ABC’s connection to The Walt Disney Company.