The Official Caldwell Countdown

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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After 41 years on local television, WLOSer Bob Caldwell is set to retire. His last day is July 31 and over the next week, the “we’ll miss, you” Bob sentiments will be building. People will talk about everything from his Bumbo the Clown days to his buy-bread-and-milk snowstorm reports to his outdoors reports.

If you haven’t checked out the parade of former WLOSers wishing Bob well in his retirement, you really should. For us die-hard fans of all thing WLOS, the cavalcade of past local celebrities is really one to savor.

You’ll see: former anchor Kathy Scott, who has put on a few pounds (but haven’t we all), giving her cute remembrance; former noon anchor Brenda Burch, looking matronly as ever, saying see-ya; former weatherman Mr. Bill looking as avuncular as ever; former sports anchor Jenny Dunn giving Bob a jovial farewell; former hidden-camera reporter Amy Davis doing her good-bye walking and talking; best ex-WLOS weather guy ever Mike Bettes making Bob a deal that if Bob will take him fly fishing, Mike will take him into a hurricane; former weather-guesser Gary Stephenson delivering well-wishes; former anchor guy Frank Kracher, back from the dead, give Bob his best from a boat on a river; former reporter (and still a hottie) Suzanne Hudson give her heartfelt love; former reporter Sherr-ree! Johnson, who was in Ashvegas about two minutes, give her fake love; former WLOS anchorman Mark Pompilio, who was let go by station management, tell a funny story on Bob; and current reporter John “Punnyman” Le’s rather nice, but sappy, tribute video to Bob.

It’s all there, folks. Click here to see it all. You’ll also see farewells sent in from viewers. Here’s a typical sample:

We lived in Asheville for 8 years and watched the WLOS morning show. After moving to Burke County we have continued watching you for 12 years. One of our prerequisites for our new move was that our cable company carried WLOS with Bob Caldwell. We have enjoyed watching you work with various anchors. Some of them you had to grin and bear ( and I bet you can name a few), but we loved how you connected with Brenda, Mimi, Susan, and now Victoria and Jay! You will be missed, and we’ll look forward to your Friday night specials to get our “Bob Caldwell Fix.”

Also, we caught an ad about a Bob Caldwell retrospective that is to be aired this weekend, but we missed the date and time. If you’ve got that info, let us know.

There’s no word yet on Bob’s replacement. And will they keep his outdoors reports? Most of all, will you miss Bob?