Longtime WCCO Reporter Bill Hudson signed off from the CBS O&O last week.

“I’ve had a wonderful career with incredible opportunities to meet people, tell their stories and see the world. But you know when the time has come and the time has come,” Hudson told the Star-Tribune. “I didn’t feel like I was contributing the way I wanted to anymore. I’m not a social-media type and that’s kind of the direction the business is taking. The gas tank is empty. It’s time to pull over and let the faster cars by.”

Hudson spent much of his time traveling for stories, but that has changed a bit as CBS tighten the purse strings. Budget cuts in recent years have meant limited travel for TV journalists, a factor in Hudson’s decision to leave.

But the current pandemic played a bigger role.

“I’m scared to death of this virus,” he said. “I’ve got two grandsons. I can’t be out in the community and come home at night to hold a baby. A couple of weeks ago, I decided it was time to draw the line.”

Angela Davis, who worked at the station for a dozen years before getting her own talk show on Minnesota Public Radio, called him the “newsroom dad.”

“He was one of the most sought-after people in the newsroom when a tough decision needed to be made, whether is was about a story or about a personal crisis,” Davis said. “I think just about everyone there has shed a tear in his presence. I know I did.”