After 15 years as host of Ontario Morning, Wei Chen is retiring from CBC

Wei Chen is going on air for the last time Friday as host of CBC's Ontario Morning.

Chen, who has hosted the radio show since 2007, says she's looking forward to pursuing and exploring her other interests, such as art, writing and baking.

"I'm not retiring from life. I'm just retiring from my job," Chen said.

Chen has been waking up early for the last 15 years to sit in the host's chair. Ontario Morning serves listeners in Kingston, Peterborough, Barrie and surrounding communities every Monday to Friday starting at 6 a.m.

"You start to feel like they're people in your neighbourhood," she said.

"There are regular listeners who drop you a line all the time to comment about things, and when you share these things with one another, you get close to each other."

Chen was born in Taipei, Taiwan, and arrived in Canada when she was three. She grew up with her family in Hamilton, Ontario.

She went to journalism school at Toronto's Ryerson University, interned at CFPL in London, Ont., and wrote for CHCH in Hamilton on the weekends.

Her first job after graduation was as a reporter and anchor at CBC Calgary in 1989. Over the years, she worked in a variety of places, such as Toronto One and CBC TV in Ottawa and Toronto.

She spent 10 years working at CTV, where she served as host of Canada AM Weekend, anchored at CTV's 24-hour news channel, and spent seven seasons as an investigative journalist with W5, which earned her two Gemini nominations.

Her first radio experience was as host of Ontario Morning. She says she will miss the connection she has with the listeners, many of whom have been sharing their retirement stories with her for the last couple of days.

"It's almost like having your morning coffee with people," Chen said.