One of Champaign-Urbana’s most popular television personalities is leaving the medium.
WCIA-TV’s chief meteorologist Derick Fabert announced on his Facebook page Tuesday that he’s leaving TV to join Adams Outdoor Advertising as a real estate manager. He had been with WCIA for five years. Saturday will be his last day with the station.
“It’s bittersweet,” Fabert said on the Facebook Live video. “It’s solely my decision.”
Fabert, who lost the tip of his right index finger in a home-repair accident recently, said the time he spent recuperating on his couch provided him some time to ponder his future.
“I was thinking if there was more out there for me,” he said.
Turns out there was. A friend approached him with an idea and Fabert considered it a sign from above.
“It’s going to be a completely new world for me,” he said.
Fabert, along with co-anchors Aaron Bennett and Jennifer Roscoe, and sports director Bret Beherns, form the area’s most popular newscast.