Albany

Longtime NewsChannel 13 reporter Bill Lambdin is stepping down later this month after a four-decade broadcast career spent mainly in the Capital Region, saying that changes and cutbacks in the journalism business led him to decide to step back and explore other options.

The 62-year-old, who has covered more stories for Channel 13 than any other reporter in the station's history, said his departure was his choice. "It is a big luxury in this business to chose your own exit," he said. "I was not fired or anything."

Lambdin's last day will be Aug. 22 and his final appearance should be on the 6 p.m. broadcast, he said. Lambdin started at the station in 1980, when it was the CBS affiliate WAST.

During his tenure, according to his station biography, he has "ridden a circus elephant, been kissed by Morganna, baseball's kissing bandit, and asked questions that annoyed governors of both major political parties. His favorite assignment is the annual induction ceremony at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown."

Lambdin said shrinking news staffs and increasing demands "to do more and more with less and less" had him questioning in recent years whether his profession was as fulfilling as it had been.

"TV news is much different than when I started in 1973," he said.

Lambdin gave his resignation notice to station management on Wednesday, he said.

He said he had no immediate professional plans, but "if something presents itself, I will consider it."

Prior to joining Channel 13, Lambdin worked from 1975 from 1980 at WRCB in Chattanooga, Tenn., and from 1973 to 1975 at WUTR in Utica.

"I don't want to say that I am retiring. That sounds like I am abandoning something that I have devoted 41 years of my life to," he said.

Lambdin grew up in Broadalbin, Fulton County, where he graduated from the old Broadalbin High School. He graduated with a music degree from Hamilton College in Clinton.

bnearing@timesunion.com • 518-454-5094 • @Bnearing10