An exit interview with Devin Scillian

It’s been nearly 30 years since Local 4’s Devin Scillian left Oklahoma City, where he was a news anchor at an NBC affiliate, to come to Detroit’s WDIV-TV. After three decades covering everything from the annual America’s Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit to the assassination of a prime minister in Israel, the prolific and affable anchor has taken the word of a friend and is retiring from WDIV. Scillian made the announcement during a newscast at 18.00 on October 15; his last newscast will be at The 18.00 news on Friday 13 December.

“My friend (Tom Sorrells, who was also in the news arena) told me, ‘It’s later than you think,'” the Kansas native says of achieving life’s goals. “And it got me thinking.”

Here, the 61-year-old, who has four children living around the country, tells about his favorite tasks, why he loves journalism, and whether, after his last day at the station, he will continue to read four newspapers every morning.

Having been a journalist for 40 years, that really starts to define you, doesn’t it?

Well, yes and no. In America, we tend to be defined by what we do. “What are you doing?” shouldn’t really be the focus and I hope I’m more than a job.

You certainly are. I know you are a musician and have written quite a few children’s books. So what’s next?

I have the freedom to do some things that I have promised myself for years. My younger self tells me, “Dude, you promised you would…” So we’ll see. I can be involved in the station. My son and I might be working on a documentary. I’ll probably be more involved with theater, which is what I started in school at the University of Kansas on a partial theater scholarship to study acting. I took a few broadcasting courses on the side and started to love it so I studied journalism.

I don’t have a complete plan yet, but I’m not the type to sit around and do nothing. I continue to write children’s books (he has 22 under his belt) and am now working on “Raccoons in the Library.”

Any novels coming up?

(Laughing) Like so many journalists, I have three or four in various stages of completion. I want to finish a novel. I have a number of ideas, but you know it takes discipline.

It does, but your passion for your career and your success are both proof that you’re disciplined, right?

In fact, novelist Elmore Leonard gave me the best advice on writing a novel. I once told him I was intimidated by the thought of it because it is so complex and structured. He said, remember, you can’t see LA from New York City, but you can drive there and at night only see the roadway to your destination as much as your headlights will provide.

What are some of your most memorable news events that you covered?

It’s hard to put into words, there are so many. In 1995, three months after I got here, Yitzhak Rabin, the prime minister of Israel, was assassinated, so I was on a plane to Israel right away. I was lucky that I worked for a station that believed that where the news was, we were. My favorite book is my passport and it’s definitely been getting a good workout. Memorable. Well, I loved that I was here for the Detroit Red Wings Stanley Cup Parade in 1997. For reasons that are not entirely clear to me, I was actually a Red Wings fan before I ever moved to Detroit.

I covered Detroit’s bankruptcy in 2013, and also that year I stood in St. Peter’s Square in Rome and watched Cardinal Bergoglio become Pope Francis. I have covered the Olympic Games 10 times. Sydney, Australia is hard to beat, but Paris was close. But all this cannot be compared to my favorite moments with my colleagues, including producers, journalists, photographers. I am lucky enough to call them family.

What would you have been if you hadn’t become a journalist?

I would have given acting a shot, and can get into it more now, including voice acting (animation, video games, audio books). Jeff Daniels wrote me into his play “Office Christmas Party, Grinch in Fight with Rudolph, Police Called” which is now at the Purple Rose Theater (in Chelsea). i ‘play’ (laughing) Devin Scillian, anchorman, and that’s just my recorded voice.

So children’s book author, potential novelist, musician, actor…

They are all related to storytelling. At the heart of it, I am a storyteller. And it will continue.

Is there time for hobbies?

I used to live for basketball. Now I mostly play tennis. And there’s my band, Devin Scillian & Arizona Son. (Scillian sings, plays six-string guitar, piano and sometimes ukulele, and writes songs.)

What was your favorite part of the day during your time at WDIV?

Sitting with my wife, Corey (8:30am), enjoying coffee, generally reading four papers and just talking. We can sit for hours. This is a trap for my new life because Corey doesn’t believe I will stop reading so many newspapers, one of which is The Junction City Daily Union from Kansas and most are online except Sunday New York Times.

Now you have more time to do the things you love, right?

I can’t say I hate the idea of ​​taking a Thanksgiving morning off. Every Thanksgiving I have had to wake up at the crack of dawn. But I loved every part of that parade and covering it. It’s full of Detroit traditions.

What are your thoughts on your replacement, Ty Steele?

There’s a lot for me to like about Ty (Steele). He’s a great reporter, and I’ve always thought that’s a requirement for a good anchor. But I also love his devotion to his family – we’re both fathers of four, and we bond immediately. He also has what I have always felt is critical for any journalist, and that is an insatiable curiosity about the world around him.