Longtime WBZ traffic reporter Scott Eck is now Kristen Eck after spending nearly a year transitioning at Fenway Health transgender services, the station reported today.

Though she’s just announcing her transition now, Eck, a 19-year veteran with the station, told WBZ the change is part of a “journey” that she’s “been on for the last 40 years of my life.”

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“It was when I was about 5 years old that something clicked in my head and I realized that I was different from most of the other kids around me,” Eck told WBZ NewsRadio 1030’s Laurie Kirby. “There was something from deep within me that said, ‘this isn’t my body,’ or this isn’t the body that I’m supposed to have. I felt very genuinely and very deeply that I was supposed to be a girl.”

Eck told Kirby her decision to transition was inspired partly by Caitlyn Jenner’s willingness to openly announce that she now identifies as a woman. Announcing the transition to female, Eck told WBZ, has made her the “happiest and healthiest she’s ever been.”

WBZ Director of News and Programming Peter Casey said: “I think just as we welcomed Scott Eck to WBZ 19 years ago, we also welcome Kristen Eck with the same enthusiasm, support and encouragement as we would any new voice on the radio station.”

As of today, when the station announces “traffic on the 3s,” it will be Kristen Eck reporting from the chopper.