“Whatever name recognition I have is in this market,’’ said Stearns, who confirms he has had discussions with other local outlets and continues to contribute at WEEI. “I’m living in the house I grew up in. I have a wife and three daughters, I coach, I’m dug in. This is home, this is where we want to be, and this is where we will be.’’

But even as he endures the process of changing jobs, he’s well aware that in the current media landscape, the job he loves is rapidly changing.

“The days when we were growing up and waiting up until 6 and 11 o’clock to get our news on the Red Sox, those days are long gone,’’ Stearns said. “If you’re waiting until 10 o’clock for the Patriots highlights or to see how many points Paul Pierce scored, you must not have a phone, a computer.

“The immediacy of it all is amazing, and it felt like it happened so quickly, though it really didn’t. Those who are fortunate enough to do what I do are left fighting for their place, fighting for their share.’’

Stearns, a 49-year-old Braintree native, describes his current status as a “casualty of the business model in local television.

“There’s no shame in admitting that this happened,’’ said Stearns, who emphasized that Fox’s decision not to renew his contract - which he learned about in mid-September - was not performance-related. “It wasn’t a ‘how can we get rid of Butch?’ situation. The fact that they [let me] on the air to say goodbye tells you it’s an amicable situation.

“It was just one of the realities of the business these days. You look at what happened at Channel 4 [when local icon Bob Lobel was let go in April 2008 after 29 years]. He wasn’t replaced, their staff dwindled from four to three. All of our staffs in sports have been diminishing for a while now. When I leave, it will be down to one. So I wasn’t blindsided. More like disappointed.’’

The changes in Stearns’s profession have not been seismic but gradual, sometimes even subtle. And they certainly are not unique to any particular network. For instance, on Friday and Saturday nights, Channel 5 has news anchor Bob Halloran voice over a sports highlights package rather than have a sports anchor in studio. And in an era in which weather and celebrity gossip sometimes seem to be the top priorities on the news (at least on slow nights), sports doesn’t get the air time it did 20 - or even 10 - years ago.

Stearns recalled that when he joined Channel 25 in 1999, the nightly sportscast ran 6-8 minutes. Nowadays, it’s wishful thinking to get half that time.

“Oh, my goodness, 6-8 minutes,’’ Stearns said wistfully. “It was a one-hour newscast then, but it felt like we got all the time we needed, usually. But then time dwindled.’’

The advances in various forms of media in recent years have shriveled the relevance of the local news. And on the other edge of the sword, viewers have the option of turning to half-hour Boston-sports-specific nightly programs, such as NESN’s “SportsDesk’’ or Comcast SportsNet’s “Mohegan Sun Sports Tonight’’ for their fill of information regarding the local teams.

In fact, the day may soon arrive when local network affiliates outsource their sportscasts to a local entity such as Comcast SportsNet, which would provide highlight packages and essentially eliminate the need for sports anchors. Comcast SportsNet already has a similar relationship with New England Cable News.

“I’ll never burn a bridge because I might have to walk back over it,’’ said Stearns. “That’s the best way I can put it. I have nothing but fondness in my heart for my time [at Channel 25]. But it’s a business. It’s a business. And this is a consequence of that.

“The eyes are going somewhere. I want to be at that place.’’