BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- News anchor Andrea Lindenberg has announced on her Facebook page that she is leaving Birmingham's NBC 13 at the end of this week.
“Though this was not my decision, it is one I’ve wanted to make but was always too scared to do on my own,” Lindenberg wrote in a Facebook post Tuesday night. “So the kids and I are about to embark on a humbling adventure for a more simple life!!”
Reached by AL.com/The Birmingham News this morning, Lindenberg said her contract with NBC 13 has come up for renewal and the station chose not to renew it.
"This is my last week," she said. "It was sort of scary at first, but for me, it means more time at home with the kids at dinnertime, which is something I've missed for three years now."
Gene Kirkconnell, vice president and general manager at NBC 13, said this afternoon that he hopes to name a replacement for Lindenberg soon, and he thanked her for her time at the station.
"I wish her the best as she goes down this new path in her life," Kirkconnell said.
Lindenberg came to NBC 13 in 2007 to anchor the morning news, and three years ago, she became one of the station's evening news anchors.
She began her broadcast career here in 1990 as a reporter at CBS 42, where she worked for three years. She then went to Fox 6, where she spent 11 years -- the last eight as the evening news anchor.
After leaving Fox 6 in 2004, Lindenberg was out of television for three years while she raised her young children.
Lindenberg said today that she plans to stay in Birmingham and might return to television if the right opportunity came along.
"I don't know what's in the future," she said. "I know God's got a plan, and I will let you know where I end up. The job search is underway."
Updated at 11:09 a.m. CDT Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2013, to include additional comments from Andrea Lindenberg.
Updated at 4:44 p.m. CDT Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2013, to add comments from NBC 13 vice president and general manager Gene Kirkconnell.