Arvi Lind is still a big favorite – Do you remember how dramatically the last broadcast ended? – 2024-03-02 23:29:23

Readers of Iltalehti voted Arvi Lindi as their favorite news anchor. Matti Matikainen

– Oh my God! That can’t be true.

Legendary news anchor Arvi Lind, 83, is confused. Readers of Iltalehti voted him their favorite news anchor. Lind, who retired in 2003, received 25 percent of the vote and came second with only one percentage point Matti Rönkä. Almost 8,000 readers of Iltalehti participated in the vote.

– Now I don’t really know how to react to this. Of course, I am humbly grateful that I have done my job in such a way that people still remember me, Lind tells Iltalehte.

– After all, Meikäläinen’s position in Finnish information transmission rests solely on the goodness of Yleisradio, he continues modestly.

Lind still remembers that he hadn’t even planned to pursue a career in radio and TV. Then Lind, a native language student, ended up working at Yle as an evening worker in 1965, and the rest is history.

This year marks 21 years since Lindi’s last news broadcast. The former news anchor has to admit that he no longer longs to go back to his job.

– It’s so hectic and competitive with the rush that you can’t really dig it, he smiles.

– The only thing I miss is good colleagues and community and atmosphere. It was a really pleasant place to work. Of course, also the fact that I was able to be in a service profession, he reflects.

Lind says that he still watches Yle’s news every day. He has also noticed how good Yle’s current news reporters are. He gives great credit to Yle’s current employees and especially to young people.

– I hope I never join the chorus that claims that everything was better before. That is not true. Today’s young people are very mobile, and they have a good education in the field and a lot of opportunities, the man states.

– I really admire these current journalists in newspapers, radio and television, he adds.

After retiring, Lind has made a conscious effort to stay out of the public eye. He states in his own words that he is now “in the rest of his old age”. In passing, Lind reveals a little about what his retirement days include these days.

– Here we live with the ailments of old age. I’ll be 84 if I live until Christmas, he says.

Lind worked at Yle for about 38 years, and he is one of the longest-serving employees of Yle news. Lindi’s last news broadcast was on October 16, 2003.

At that time, Lind reported on, among other things, the new Musiikkitalo, China’s magic car, i.e. space pilots, and the ways in which parents will be able to find out where their child is by phone in the future. At the end of the broadcast, Lind uttered his iconic last words as a news anchor.

– Dear viewers, it’s time to say goodbye. This was the last broadcast of my almost 40-year TV news career. It has been a privilege to be able to serve the people of Finland at the good Yleisradio with good colleagues. I want to thank them and above all you, dear viewers, for these years together and wish them all the best. The authors change, but the work continues. News today at 21:50 and 23:25, so goodbye TV news.

As the end credits rolled, Lind started walking towards Yle’s newsroom. After Lindi entered the office doors, she walked towards the bright studio lights. 1.6 million Finns watched Lindi’s farewell broadcast on television.

The broadcast, which lasted 24 minutes and 32 seconds, can still be found in the Ylen Elävä archive or below.