Signing Off in Knoxville

Longtime WBIR Anchor Russell Biven is leaving the station this week.

Biven has been with the station since 1999, when he started as a sports anchor. The next year, he began as a co-host of "Live at Five at Four." In 2008, he also began co-hosting the "10News Today" morning show.

Biven says he hopes to take on some speaking engagements and finish a book. He might do some freelance journalism as well.

"For more than 21 years, I have come to work at Channel 10 with one purpose. One purpose: to serve you, the viewer," Biven said in his announcement on Friday. "That's it, and I've had a lot of fun doing it."

"I'm a big believer in, if you're not living for other people, you're not living," Biven said. "And so, it's the stories of the people who are living for other people are what get me and what I love to tell them. There's so many of them here, really it's mind boggling."

He said that he won’t miss the early morning alarm, but he did say, “I wouldn't trade the experience I had at WBIR for anything," Biven said. "It's been a wonderful place. I've learned a lot, and hope that I've left it better than when I arrived."

He signs off from the station in Friday.

H/T Knox News