TVO’s flagship current affairs program The Agenda with Steve Paikin will wind down this summer, with Paikin announcing that he’s stepping down as the host to explore new opportunities.
The final episode will air on the last Friday in June, Paikin wrote in a post on the TVO website.
Paikin has anchored The Agenda for the past 19 years.
He isn’t leaving TVO altogether though, saying he’ll continue co-hosting the #onpoli podcast with John Michael McGrath, keep penning a weekly column to TVO’s website and will continue hosting the town hall series TVO Today Live.
“And I’ll still front the YouTube show Ontario Chronicle, which delves into some of the neat, untold stories of our province’s history,” he wrote. “TVO has just been too important a part of my life to walk away entirely, so I’m delighted our relationship will continue in a part-time way.”
Paikin cited workload as a reason for stepping back from his anchoring role.
“As much as I have loved hosting The Agenda for the past 19 years (and hosting four other programs for TVO over the past 32 years in total), anchoring a daily program is a seven-day-a-week job. When the show is on the air, you’re studying research, vetting questions, booking guests, and writing a weekly column until 11 p.m. (or later) pretty much every night of the week.”
“I realized that if I ever wanted to tackle some of the other things on life’s to-do list, I just couldn’t do them and host a daily show at the same time. Something’s gotta give.”
As for what he’ll do with his newly-found free time, Paikin said he’s considering new podcasts, or possibly authoring another book.
“Having been chancellor at Laurentian University, I’d love to explore having a role on another post-secondary campus,” he added.
“The point is, while I’ve got a bit of runway and a lot of energy still left, I need to find out what else is out there that I can contribute to, as I celebrate my 65th birthday in June.”
