“What got me into television in the first place was the fact that I loved attention, the center of the stage,” writes recently retired WCCO anchor Don Shelby in a new post on Minnesota news and analysis site MinnPost.

Shelby stepped away from the WCCO anchor desk in November after 32 years with the CBS O&O.

Reflecting on his career in journalism, in which he helmed WCCO’s 5, 6, and 10 p.m. newscasts for decades, Shelby says that it was a constant desire to learn that drove him.  In his MinnPost piece, he likens this desire to an addiction.

“I am an addictive personality. I have been addicted to tobacco, alcohol, getting engaged (five times),” he writes.  Through journalism, he also became addicted to “learning things.”

He also admits that this drive often got the best of him:

I loved approval and I loved to perform. That’s where the learning took a turn for the worse… the worst. I became a blow-hard, know-it-all. Read more

WCCO has been unable to match the 10 p.m. ratings win it experienced in November, when the CBS O&O bid an extended farewell to longtime anchor Don Shelby.

In November, WCCO finished #1 in the 25-54 demo for the first time in 24 years. But the station couldn’t retain its top spot in December.

Although the station was unable to stay #1 with Shelby’s successor, Frank Vascellaro, MinnPost points out that “anchors aren’t the only variable.”

Kiki Rosatti, WCCO’s director of communications and content, told MinnPost that, despite its slide at 10 p.m., the station saw gains in its other newscasts:

The station showed double-digit demo gains for all newscasts except the 10, including 5 a.m. (up 20 percent), 6 a.m. (82 percent), 5 p.m. (37 percent) and 6 p.m. (17 percent). WCCO won December demo at 5 a.m., noon and 5 p.m.

Ultimately it seems that WCCO’s December ratings are less about an anchor change and more about viewers’ continued shift to earlier newscasts.