Former WXIX-TV morning news anchor Meghan Mongillo returns to Cincinnati TV in March as weekend anchor on WKRC-TV (Channel 12). And she can’t wait.
“I don’t start till March, but I’m thrilled with this opportunity! I’m going to be working in a city I love at the number No. 1 station. It’s truly a dream job for me,” says Mongillo, who will fill the vacancy created last summer when weekend evening anchor Curtis Jackson took a Detroit TV job.
For six years, Mongillo was a very popular “Fox 19 Morning News” reporter and news anchor when Sheila Gray, now at Channel 12, co-hosted the program.
In 2010 Mongillo left Channel 19 to co-host morning news programs on Dayton Channels 22 and 45 – but she didn’t leave town. She continued to live in Norwood.
“I didn’t move to Dayton. My ‘personal’ life has always been in Cincinnati,” she tells me in an email today. “I’m very familiar with driving I-75 ;).”
The Dayton stations and Channel 12 share the same owner (Sinclair Broadcast Group) and the same group manager (Jon Lawhead, based at Channel 12).
“We liked what we saw of her anchoring our morning newscast in Dayton. She has continued to develop both her anchoring and reporting skills. I especially like that she has improved over the years in how she ‘connects’ with viewers. She has matured on air, and I believe, resonates with news viewers,” Lawhead tells me.
Mongillo missed several weeks of work last spring recovering from breast cancer surgery, as she explained to viewers in April.
“I was diagnosed with cancer this past spring. My last surgery was in October, and I’m happy to report I’m cancer-free,” she tells me.
“The diagnosis and journey has given me a fresh perspective on life. I feel very blessed. Not only to have a career I love, but people in my life who love and support me,” says Mongillo, who was born and raised in Columbiana, Ohio, just south of Youngstown. Her sister is a Mason school teacher. Mongillo worked in Zanesville and Fort Wayne before being hired by Channel 19 in January 2005.
Word of the Mongillo hiring comes as WCPO-TV (Channel 9) is switching main female co-anchors. Tanya O’Rourke was promoted to join Craig McKee on the 11 p.m. newscast starting Jan. 4, when 29-year veteran Carol Williams goes part-time in preparation for retiring in 2017.
Mongillo will work in Dayton through the February ratings sweeps. She will debut on Local 12 in mid-March, according to the newsroom announcement by Tim Geraghty, Channel 12 news director.
