What follows below are 2 News Nevada Chief Meteorologist Mike Alger's final words on his final broadcast in their entirety.
When I arrived on the doorstep of the KTVN studios May 1st, 1989, I was a young snotty-nosed kid who held firm to his belief that he knew everything. Well…thanks to all this, now I'm an old snotty-nosed kid, but if the last 35 years have taught me anything, it's how much I don't know.
Forecasting the weather, especially around here, is an exercise fraught with danger, and for someone who has always hated ever being wrong (just ask my family), you either quickly gain more than a modicum of humility, or an overabundance of frustration. That was just one of the things I had to learn…or perhaps more accurately, un-learn during my broadcasting career.
I think I am most grateful to discover that I was totally wrong about what would make my career successful. You see, standard thought was you start in a small television market, and then work your way up progressively to larger and more lucrative markets until you arrive at the summit… a top ten market or dare I say the network? And that was my plan way back then. And after being here a year, that next step in the plan seemed to fall into place. I received a great job offer in a larger market, for a considerable raise…a perfect stepping-stone on my way to the top.
But a funny thing happened. Actually, you happened. After following me to different towns in the early phases of my career, my wife Anita seemed to find a home here. And she wasn't the only one. Dirt poor with a brand-new baby, everything screamed the only logical thing to do was to take the job, but I found myself looking for excuses not to go…which in the end, was in itself a pretty darn good excuse not to go. We'd found our home, and we were staying.
And it was you that made us feel at home. The strangers that we would meet on the street, the friends we made at church, the incredible colleagues at our workplaces.
Through the good times and bad, you have taught me what true character is. This community has rallied together to overcome incredible challenges. Floods, wildfires…storms of kinds natural and manmade. And yet I've never failed to see incredible acts of generosity, courage and care when you are called upon. Thank you.
I wish I had time to mention everyone deserving of my thanks, but my contract is up after this show, and that would take me well into the following days. But to the owners and leaders of Sarkes Tarzian, which owns KTVN, and the local management at this station, thank you for being the best ownership group one could ever hope to work for in this crazy business.
To my amazing children, Mikaela and CJ, I am so proud of the adults (and spouses) you have become. Thank you for your patience and strength when daddy was working those late nights.
To my wife Anita, whom everyone who knows us agrees married far below her station, thank you for being willing to go on this crazy journey with me, and I can't wait to see what god has in store for us next.
And to my friends and colleagues in the newsroom, and out here in the studio… well…this…you… are what I will miss the most.
Most of all, I thank you…you who have welcomed me into your homes for more than half my life. You have made this my home, and I will be forever thankful
For you see…tomorrow I will wake up and I'll be out of a job.
But I'll never be out of friends.
God bless you all.
