Al Roker Breaks Silence on Retirement Rumors After 30 Years on 'Today': 'At Some Point I Won't Be Part of the Show'

Only a few short weeks after celebrating his 30th anniversary as part of NBC’s Today show team, Al Roker is opening up about his future plans and potential retirement in the immediate years ahead.

As expected, the 71-year-old’s anniversary celebration caused many people to wonder whether the longtime weatherman might soon step away from Today. Speaking with People magazine in a recent interview, Roker promptly put those rumors to rest, plainly stating he has no plans to retire at any point in the near future.

“Well, let’s put it this way. I haven’t thought about retirement. Somebody at NBC, that might be a different story,” Roker joked.

As most viewers might readily know, Roker has been a key part of the Today show team since replacing Willard Scott in 1996. In the decades since, the affable Roker has become a beloved fixture of the NBC program, with countless viewers voicing their appreciation for Roker’s humor, personality and agreeable rapport with his on-air colleagues.

“I love what I do,” Roker told People. “I feel good. I love this job. I love doing it. At some point I guess I won’t be, but I don’t feel like that’s anytime soon, so I’m just gonna keep going.”

In spite of his optimistic view of the future, Roker was quick to acknowledge that he, like every reporter on Today, are only temporary employees on the show. With that being said, Roker said it is a definitive inevitably that he’ll eventually step away from Today at some point down the line.

“I think that’s the beauty of the broadcast is that the mission over these 74 years has not changed,” Roker said. “The way we bring it to you may have, and look, the fact of the matter is we are each temporary custodians of this legacy … at some point I won’t be part of the show, somebody else will be, but to be part of a pretty cool club is very special. To say that this was a dream job isn’t really accurate because it never dawned on me that I could be on the Today show.”