When we started "The Range" in 2020, I had a story in the first episode about the city’s Riverfront Legacy Master Plan.
While the plan crashed and burned, The Range has rolled right along.
I’ve reported more than 120 stories since then, and this will be my last.
I’ve spent the last few weeks looking at all the stories I’ve done about where we live and the people who live here, and it brought back a lot of memories.
The show’s first big moment, of course, was the pandemic. We were eight episodes in when Covid hit. The next 13 shows included pandemic-related stories, including a visit to the Mize's Thriftway grocery store in Clearwater.
I did dozens of pandemic stories, everything from working from home to the impact on commercial office space to an interview with Wichita State University graduate Mona Nemer, the chief science adviser in Canada.
And I interviewed nurse Lynn Hutchinson, who was working in the intensive care unit at St. Francis hospital during the worst of the pandemic.
The Range also let me explore parts of our state, normally with my colleague Hugo Phan in tow.
We visited a shrimp farm in Oxford, talked with the owner of a small newspaper in Wilson County and made a trip to Eureka, where we found Sam Vasta, a master shoemaker from Italy creating handmade custom boots in his small backyard shop.
In addition to the stories about where we live, I also did a lot of stories on the people who live here.
The first time I talked with Dr. John-Michael Watson, we were in our studios before he left for a research station at the South Pole. The second time we talked, he was a bit farther away.
I also interviewed Stacy Christie, the architect in charge of the biomedical campus project downtown, typewriter repairman Mark Midkiff and retired Boeing executive Leanne Caret.
And I traveled to Basehor to talk with Steve Woelk about his faith. It helped him endure 11 months of brutal treatment in captivity after North Korea illegally seized his ship, the USS Pueblo, in 1968.
And because The Range’s DNA includes a business component, I visited new headquarters for Keycentrix, Hutton and SPT Architecture.
I talked with business and community leader Junetta Everett about how companies need to learn the difference between diversity and inclusion.
I reported on the end of legacy businesses in Wichita, like Learjet and Johnston’s, the men’s clothing store. Owner J.V. Johnston said it closed after more than 100 years because of the internet, a changing standard for business attire and virtual meetings.
We also celebrated our own milestones along the way. For our 100th episode, I interviewed three Wichitans who were 100 years old about their lives. That included pilot and World War II veteran Jay McLeod.
Our fifth anniversary show was full of laughs and giggles. How could it not be?
And, of course, my time on The Range also allowed me to indulge my passion for sports.
I talked with the late Joe Ruocco, a longtime baseball card and memorabilia dealer in Wichita. And I visited the Wichita Pool Hall of Fame.
I spent time with the Wind Surge, talking with the groundskeeper in charge of keeping the field green, a nutritionist who keeps the team well fed and the umpires who call the games and have major-league ambitions of their own.
I interviewed Wichita Thunder equipment manager Frank Jury, who has spent 50 years in pro hockey, handling everything from laundry to travel arrangements to fussing at players to get moving.
I also explored Wichita State’s shaky claim that it threw the first forward pass in college history during a game on Christmas Day in Wichita in 1905.
It’s been an interesting journey, filled with memorable people and stories. And it’s tough to say goodbye.
But I’ll always feel like I have a home, on The Range.
