After nearly 40 years, WAGA Investigative Reporter Dale Russell is signing off from The Firm’s station.

The station writes that Russell was the first to show the explosives used by the Boston Marathon Bombers, scooping every other journalist in the country.

In 1999, Russell's investigation of racial profiling by Customs at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport would win the station a Peabody Award.

 "It’s not every day you get to live a dream come true. What an honor to be in this room with such a distinguished group of broadcasters and journalists," Russell said.

After Russell showed the evidence in the records was undeniable, Customs changed its policy.

"The best possible outcome of one of our investigations is things get changed. Something’s wrong, it gets righted. If there’s a problem, it gets fixed. That’s the best thing that can happen for our viewers," Russell said.

His scoops seemed to never end. An exposé on Glenn Richardson cost the Speaker of the House his job. An exposé on candidate Herman Cain ended his presidential campaign. His relentless pursuit of contract bid rigging at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport sped up what would become a huge federal investigation. 

If you were an airport vendor, you had Russell's number on speed dial.

There were also moments in his career that were pure Dale Russell. Like the time he was embedded with the Georgia National Guard in Iraq. The soldier assigned to protect him turned out to be an Atlanta police officer Dale had investigated years earlier.

They got along and Russell got home alive.

In fact, it was not unusual for someone Russell investigated early in his career to become a source for future stories. They trusted him, they said, because he had treated them with fairness and respect.