Matti Rönkä completed his last news broadcast on Wednesday evening.
News anchor and reporter Matti Rönkä retired from Yle on Wednesday, February 28.
Rönkä anchors the news for the last time on Wednesday evening from 20:30.
According to Ylen’s latest data the broadcast reached 1.3 million viewers. Yle reports that the average number of viewers for the broadcast was 1.09 million people. The broadcast was started 64,000 times on the Yle.fi website and Yle Areena.
Yle reported that Röngä’s last newscast was the most watched regular newscast of 2024. Only news broadcasts on election nights have attracted more viewers.
Matti Rönkä retired on February 28. Pete Anikari
At the end of Wednesday night’s broadcast, Rönkä spoke his last words as a news anchor.
– Such good people. This is my last news broadcast. Humble thanks that I have been allowed to do this work – and freely so that no oppressive power guards or prevents it. It is not obvious at all. Today, on Kalevala day, we speak in our own language. This must be cherished, this must be taken care of together. Goodbye, Rönkä said in his last broadcast.
After those words, the broadcast showed clips from Röngä’s career while a Frank Sinatra song played in the background My Way.
Rönkä started as Yle’s news anchor in the early 2000s. Before that, he worked since 1990 as the news manager of Yle’s TV news. Previously, he has also worked at MTV and Helsingin Sanomat, among others.