Paul Moyer retiring from Channel 4 *

The speculation has been correct — longtime KNBC anchor Paul Moyer told the newsroom today that he's hanging them up after being on L.A. television since 1972. (He jumped to KABC for awhile.) From Variety's story by Michael Schneider:

"I have given Los Angeles my loyalty and my professional best, and if I was able to illuminate a dark and dangerous corner with an investigation, or communicate a complex story in a meaningful way, I have been more than repaid for my devotion to this remarkable city," Moyer said in a memo to KNBC staffers. "Los Angeles has sustained me and will continue to with a vast store of amazing memories that I will carry close to my heart as I move on to the next adventure."

Moyer is still mulling an exact departure date; station will also announce his successor at a later date.

In a newsroom note, KNBC news director Bob Long said Moyer "perfected the role of news anchor in the town that can lay claim to inventing it, becoming all an anchor can be: a team leader and a link to our community.

"Paul's contributions to KNBC over the years are many and profound, and we will watch with great interest as he contemplates his next adventure," he said. "Our personal bond of respect and affection for Paul will never diminish, and we thank him for everything he has done for our station and the industry."

Variety frames it as another move toward the end of the big-money anchor era in local news. Schneider offers a bit of successor speculation at his personal blog, including the observation that Moyer's nephew, Micah Ohlman, has disappeared from the Channel 7 website.

* Noted via email: "I thought I remembered and Wikipedia confirms—maybe 'Wikipedia confirms' is not the right way to put it—that Moyer went to Torrance High School (also the alma mater of Lou Zamperini, aka the Torrance Tornado) and was a pretty fair baseball player."

Long's newsroom memo is after the jump.