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Randy Price leaves WHDH by Scott Kearnan
Arts EditorSaturday Feb 7, 2009 Randy Price, 7NEWS co-anchor since 1998 and a Boston media fixture for more than 27 years, will no longer hold his position with the station, a WHDH-TV source revealed to Bay Windows last night. Price didn’t return a call to confirm the story on Saturday morning, nor did ’HDH’s spokeswoman, but the Boston Globe reported on its website today that Price has resigned his position and that his last broadcast was this past Wednesday.
Price is considered to be America’s first openly gay newscaster. He came out publicly during an interview with In Newsweekly in 1990, and has since become an active public figure in New England’s LGBT community through work with Boston Pride, Gay Officers Action League, Boston Alliance of Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender Youth, and numerous other organizations. In 2007, he married his spouse, Mark Steffen, on the steps of the Massachusetts State House to commemorate their 30th anniversary together.
According to the source who spoke with Bay Windows last night, Price’s WHDH colleagues are "devastated" by the news that the popular personality will no longer helm the anchor desk.
Price joined the Boston market in 1983 as a morning anchor with WBZ-TV, and resigned from the station in 1995 following an arrest for drunk driving. He was hired by WHDH as a freelancer in 1996, ascending to the evening news desk in 1998.
There has been little public indication that Price would leave his long held position with WHDH. As recently as the January/February issue of gay magazine Boston Spirit, Price poked fun at his long tenure with the Boston media market. "I’m at the point in my career where people say, ’I used to watch you while I was waiting for the school bus,’" Price told the publication. "’Oh, [expletive] you!"
He also commented on his First in the Nation legacy as an out newscaster. "As a public person, people learn a lot about you," he told the magazine. "At some point you’re either going to be out, or you’re going to be a liar."
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