PORTLAND (AP) - The longtime chief executive officer of Oregon Public Broadcasting, Maynard Orme, is leaving his job at the end of 2005, after spending 40 years working in public radio.

Orme has held the top position at OPB since 1986.

"I've been doing this for 40 years, and yeah, I'm a little weary," Orme said Wednesday, a day after he informed his staff of his decision. "Public broadcasting is a job like no other. You've got to be involved in the national organizations, or else decisions go the way you don't want them to. It's a killer."

During Orme's 18-year tenure at OPB, the station's radio audience has grown to become Portland's most popular station in the morning and evening drive times.