Regis Philbin Retiring from Live Morning Show

NEW YORK: Regis Philbin is retiring from the long-running talk show LIVE! with Regis and Kelly after having served as co-host for 28 years.

Philbin announced his retirement on-air during the Host Chat portion of the show. He told viewers: “This will be my last year on this show. It’s been a long time, it’s been 28 years since I’ve been here…There is a time that everything must come to an end…” Referring to his remaining time on the show he added, “We’ll have a lot of fun between now and then.”

The show initially debuted as Live with Regis and Kathie Lee in national syndication in 1988. It debuted locally in 1983 on WABC New York as The Morning Show. Philbin himself has spent more than 50 years in front of the camera. He even received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences at the Daytime Emmy Awards in 2008.

The LIVE franchise will continue and a new co-host will be named in the coming months.

“It has been my great honor to work with Regis since the Walt Disney Company nationally syndicated LIVE in 1988,” said Janice Marinelli, the president of Disney-ABC Domestic Television. “Regis is one of the great, iconic television personalities of our time, and we couldn’t have asked for a better friend and partner over the years. We will all certainly miss having Regis be a part of our day.”

“WABC is proud to be the home of LIVE! with Regis and Kelly, and it will be difficult to say goodbye to Regis after 28 years as a member of our family,” commented Dave Davis, the president and general manager of WABC. “We will miss him as a colleague and friend. We’re fortunate, however, to have two real pros who can lead LIVE into the future – Kelly Ripa, who has spent the last ten years developing her own amazing voice in daytime talk, and Michael Gelman, who has been with the show since its inception and is one of the best executive producers in daytime television.”