Longtime sports director Alan Sillence is retiring from Yakima, Washington CBS affiliate KIMA after 31 years.

“Thirty years ago I never would have believed I’d still be here, but it definitely grew on me,” Sillence told the Yakima Herald-Republic. “I’ve run into a lot of people who say the same thing.”

He joined the station ins 1994. He plans to retire on January 10, the day before he turns 70.

“I’ve pushed it back a couple times,” he admitted. “But I think I’m ready now, and the timing with my birthday was deliberate.”

According to his station bio, he started his career at KOMO in Seattle in 1978 as a film editor and news production assistant while studying at the University of Washington. He then moved to KNDO in Yakima before joining KGGM in Albuquerque New Mexico. While in New Mexico, Sillence won the Associated Press award for best newscast in New Mexico and also took the Associated Press award for second-best sportscast in New Mexico.