Barbara Budd, longtime co-host of the CBC Radio One current affairs program As It Happens, announced last night that she will be leaving the show after 17 years. Her last broadcast will be Friday, April 30.

Budd’s voice has become a familiar one to CBC radio listeners over the 26 years that she has been part of the CBC family.

“My association with As It Happens goes back to 1987, when show scripts were hammered out on clunky Underwood typewriters and you actually had to dial a telephone! That’s when I first regularly started filling in for the remarkable Alan Maitland, and then of course for the past 17 years as co-host myself,” says Budd. “For all that time, it’s not only been a real delight to me, but a tremendous honour to share some of the most exciting stories and people in the world with our audience.”

“As one of only two co-hosts in the show’s history, Barbara has introduced audiences in Canada, the United States and online around the world, to thousands of stories, events and people great and small,” says Denise Donlon, general manager of CBC Radio. “The one great constant, thanks to her unique style and tone, is the way those stories caught the imagination of As It Happens listeners. Barbara has made a significant contribution to a legendary CBC program and along with thanks, we offer her our very best wishes as she embarks on her next great adventures.”

For more than 40 years, using the telephone as its main communications link, As It Happens has explored the heart of a story, whether it’s happening in the streets of Belgrade, the dockyards of Vancouver, the boardrooms of Bay Street or the kitchens of Paris. On even the most complex and troubling issues, As It Happens is legendary for providing its audience with the story behind the story.

A formal search for a new co-host will begin shortly.