Longtime anchor Shelley Kirk announced yesterday that she is leaving Evansville’s WEHT at the end of this week.

Kirk, the station’s evening anchor, joined the ABC-affiliate in 1989. Her final appearance at the anchor desk will be the 6 p.m. newscast on Friday.

“I’ve known Shelley for 22 years, 18 of those years I’ve been honored to share the anchor desk with her,” co-anchor Brad Byrd said in a statement. “Shelley’s contribution not only to this station but to the Evansville TV market has been phenomenal.”

WEHT merged operations with WTVW in December. A number of on-air staffers at WEHT were eliminated as a result of the merger, but Kirk and Byrd were retained.

Kirk will join Fifth Third Bank in Evansville as marketing director.