He was an old school journalist and he had a folksy Charles Kuralt-like way of telling a story. But you won't be hearing any more stories from veteran reporter Harry Smith. He did his final piece for NBC Nightly News Thursday, fittingly a yarn about the survival of an old newspaper in a small Maine town. 

Before his days with The Peacock Network, Smith appeared for 17 years on CBS, hosting its morning shows. So he's been around a long time. 

He's not retiring though - he'll be teaching at a college in his home state of Iowa. And as one of the people I always enjoyed on TV, I suspect his future students will be lucky to have him.