Steve Kroft, Famed ’60 Minutes’ Host, Retiring After 30 Seasons

Veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft will retire this month, at the end of his 30th season for the CBS news magazine.

The 73-year-old delivered his first report for the broadcast in September 1989, making him the longest-tenured 60 Minutes correspondent.

Kroft’s final piece will air Sunday on the show’s 51st season finale, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He will announce his plan to step down at the conclusion of the broadcast.

A press release from CBS News confirmed the move and added that 60 Minutes, for which he’s reported on nearly 600 stories, will “celebrate his career as a journalist with a special tribute broadcast this September.”

Asked by THR how his producers would describe him, Kroft said, “I think if you asked them during the scripting process the answer would be unprintable. When the story is finished and screened, they would be more complimentary. I’m not easy.”

“Steve Kroft’s reporting for 60 Minutes has been as important as any correspondent’s in the history of this broadcast,” said 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens. “Steve, with his sharp eye for detail, rich writing and demanding journalism, has set the bar at 60 Minutes for three decades.”

“From the moment Steve Kroft arrived at CBS News in 1980, he has been shot out of a cannon and wherever he landed his stories broke news, had depth, and a strong sense of humanity,” said Susan Zirinsky, CBS News president and senior executive producer. “From Central America to a tour of duty in London, and back to New York, his destiny was clear – Kroft’s investigative instincts and ability to unravel the most complex stories made him a perfect fit for the 60 Minutes team.”

The five-time Peabody Award-winner’s final segment for the news magazine will be an investigation into bank fraud, which is “a fitting coda for a correspondent who won most of his awards for investigations.” He’s also contributed some of the most memorable stories in the history of 60 Minutes, starting with his 1992 post-Super Bowl interview with then-Gov. Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary.

His interview with Barack and Michelle Obama in November 2008 was their first post-election sit-down together, and had the largest TV audience of the year at that point with over 25 million viewers, according to CBS News. Kraft also conducted Obama’s last interview in office in January 2017.

The season finale of 60 Minutes airs Sunday at 7 p.m. ET on CBS.

Photo credit: Carley Margolis / Contributor / Getty Images