Carol Off stepping down as host of CBC Radio's As It Happens

When Carol Off first decided to stop globe-trotting and start hosting a radio show from a studio in Toronto, she says her friends "were really dubious."

After all, the veteran CBC journalist had spent much of her career in the 1990s and 2000s in the field, reporting the news from all over the world. 

"I was a wild animal and I was never going to be a house cat," Off said. But both she and her friends were surprised to find that she really enjoyed hosting. "It's just the world brought to me instead of having to go to the world. It just became my favourite job ever."

Now, she's leaving her favourite job behind.

Off is stepping down as host of As It Happens, CBC Radio's flagship evening current affairs show, after nearly 16 years of interviews marked by both doggedness and empathy.

"It's time to move on," she said.

She will host her final program on Feb. 25, before moving on to work on a new summer series for CBC. As It Happens will continue with a rotating cast of guest hosts as CBC Radio searches for Off's successor. 

They will be big shoes to fill, says As It Happens executive producer Robin Smythe.

"Carol is extraordinary. Her smarts, breadth of knowledge and experience, her work ethic, and especially her empathy make her interviews truly remarkable," Smythe said.

"The times that I have stopped doing what I'm doing while working on a busy, daily program to just listen to her conversations with people are innumerable. And I know we've all had those 'couldn't get out of the car, had to listen to the rest of the interview in my driveway' moments. I've been blessed that mine were at work."

Chris Howden, the show's writer-turned-co-host, says working alongside Off has been an honour.

"The Carol Off you hear on the radio — brilliant, empathetic, thoughtful, funny, generous, occasionally goofy — is the only Carol Off there is," he said.

"Working with her for the past 16 years has been an education and a joy. As It Happens listeners will miss her terribly — and so will I."

Off began her CBC career in radio in the late '80s, first as a freelancer, then an Ottawa correspondent for Sunday Morning and a Quebec correspondent for the national news.