This is what a happy television news retiree looks like.
Brian Burnell has just finished a career that started in Syracuse in 1979, made a stop in Albany, eventually led to the Hartford/New Haven market, and segued to Boston.
He joined WTNH in 1991, reporting from the Hartford Bureau. He worked his way up to weekend anchor and then main anchor alongside Ann Nyberg. As he says, they “let him go” in 1999. That’s when he joined NECN as the Connecticut bureau chief. When he took the NECN job he thought, “I’d do it for a year or so and see what happened.” Twenty-two years later he’s retiring from NECN/NBC Boston.
Alongside his longtime colleague, photog Todd Labrecque, he’s covered every big story in Connecticut.
“Comcast’s purchase of full ownership of NECN followed by its purchase of NBC led to my move to Boston 8 years ago. It allowed me to report and anchor in, what I believe, is the best local news market in the country. Living and working in Boston for an NBC O&O has been the perfect cap on a career I am proud of.”
