Updated 3:54 p.m.
A change is coming to a popular PBS show with local connections. Cincinnati Observatory Astronomer Dean Regas and Kika Silva Pla Planetarium Director James Albury are stepping down from their hosting duties on Star Gazers.
Their final episodes will air the week of Nov. 25.
The show will have a new look in December, Regas says in a statement.
"I'm very proud of what we accomplished in the last nine years and how we inspired so many people around the country to get outside and look up at the night sky," he says. "To be able to do that on a nightly basis has been an astronomical honor."
Regas began hosting the program in 2010 and helped write, produce and star in more than 900 episodes. Albury joined him a year later. The show is broadcast on more than 100 television stations around the world.
"The producers of Star Gazers, South Florida PBS, wanted to try a new approach to the show – something that would be shorter and more online-friendly," Regas tells WVXU. "To do this they decided to consult with new hosts and other content editors in Florida to create something more appealing to the YouTube generation."
Regas isn't leaving the public eye. You can still hear him along with Anna Hehman on Looking Up, a bi-monthly podcast from Cincinnati Public Radio.
Star Gazers is a series of five-minute and one-minute shows discussing what's happening in the night sky each week. The program began as Jack Horkheimer: Star Hustler in 1976 and was hosted by creator Jack Horkheimer of the Miami Museum of Science until his death in 2010. It went national in 1985 and the name Jack Horkheimer: Star Gazer was adopted in 1997. The title was shortened following Horkheimer's death.
This story was updated to include additional information about why Regas is leaving the program.
