'I was supposed to be a girl': Boston radio traffic reporter, 45, comes out as a woman

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A Boston traffic reporter signed off with her female name for the first time this week during a live broadcast.

WBZ-AM traffic reporter Scott Eck signed off on Wednesday as Kristen Eck.

While working for one of the area's most popular news stations, she has been going through a transition. 

WBZ-AM traffic reporter Scott Eck signed off for the first time Wednesday, May 4, 2016, as Kristen Eck, a public step toward her transition

Transgender issues have been part of the national conversation ever since Olympian Bruce Jenner announced to the world that he identifies as a female and was changing his name to Caitlyn Jenner. 

Attention to transgender issues continued with the recent battles in several states over bathroom access for transgender people and the firing of former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling from ESPN for forwarding a Facebook post that many found offensive.

And although Eck, 45, was aware of the heightened public interest, her decision to live as a woman was deeply personal. 

She said she knew at age 5 she was supposed to be a girl.

She told WBZ: 'This has been a journey of sorts that I’ve been on for the last 40 years of my life.

'It was when I was about 5 years old that something clicked in my head and I realized that I was different from most of the other kids around me.

'There was something from deep within me that said, "This isn't my body," or this isn't the body that I'm supposed to have.

'I felt very genuinely and very deeply that I was supposed to be a girl.'

Eck reports on crashes, traffic jams and detours from a helicopter during morning and evening drive times for the area's dominant news radio station

Eck has said: 'This has been a journey of sorts that I’ve been on for the last 40 years of my life'

Eck reports on crashes, traffic jams and detours from a helicopter during morning and evening drive times for the area's dominant news radio station.

She said: 'The last 40 years for me there has been a lot of inner turmoil, and it reached the point that it was affecting my health because I didn't like myself.'

She said she was stressed out, grinding her teeth, overweight, and smoking way too much.

'I couldn't hold it anymore and I didn't want to,' the Barnstable native said.

Eck told WBZ: 'A lot of people were wondering about that, saying if you're making this transition, if you're becoming Kristen, does your voice go away? And it doesn't.

'It'll be the same voice that you hear every day in the helicopter; that you've been hearing every day in the helicopter.

'That stays the same. The sense of humor stays the same – for better or worse.

'My love of doing this [radio] stays the same. So there are a lot of things that won't change at all.'

Eck has been transitioning with the help of Fenway Health transgender counseling services and has been on hormone therapy for the better part of a year. 

The announcement Wednesday is part of a yearlong period of living as a woman, after which she hopes to have gender reassignment surgery.

'I am a much healthier and happier person now,' said Eck, who technically works for a station contractor.

Eck, 45, said she knew at age 5 that she was supposed to be a girl

Eck made the announcement to her colleagues Tuesday; and as far as the newsroom at the CBS station is concerned, she is the same person she was before the name change and the same valued 19-year member of the on-air team

Eck made the announcement to her colleagues Tuesday; and as far as the newsroom at the CBS station is concerned, she is the same person she was before the name change and the same valued 19-year member of the on-air team.

'The way I look at it, Kristen Eck is doing the same great job as Scott Eck was before, and that's the end of the story,' said Peter Casey, WBZ's director of news and programming.

And drivers can expect to hear the same smooth voice they have for almost two decades as they sit in traffic. 

Eck told WBZ: 'My new name is Kristen Eck and my new identity is female.'