Symmes Township native Tiffany Wilson says she's amazed by all the welcome home greetings from viewers who saw her return to Cincinnati television Sunday night — even though she and her husband moved back from San Francisco in 2018.
"I've been blown away at the number of people who caught the (WLWT-TV) newscast on Sunday," says Wilson, the former WKRC-TV Good Morning Cincinnati anchor who moved to San Francisco in 2014.
"Cincinnati has incredibly loyal local news viewers. I am very touched by how many people reached out saying they always hoped I would return," she says. "I've heard from Ursuline Academy friends, fellow parishioners, former Local 12 viewers on Facebook who recognized my voice and did a double take."
Wilson is subbing on the weekend evening anchor desk this month until Lindsay Stone,a Monroe High School graduate, arrives from Indianapolis March 29. Longtime weekend co-anchor Courtis Fuller has been on an extended medical leave since December.
Wilson handled the job flawlessly Sunday night. You couldn’t tell she had not done TV news since leaving California.
"It was my first newscast in over five years, so thank you for saying that you couldn't tell. I must have hidden the butterflies pretty well," she says.
The Ursuline Academy and Northwestern University alum joined WKRC-TV as a reporter in 2010 before moving to the morning anchor desk. She left in March 2014 to join her husband Matt in San Francisco after more than 50 cross-country flights in three years following his job transfer. Wilson was replaced on the Channel 12 morning show by Sheila Gray, who was working at the sister Sinclair stations in Dayton after leaving WXIX-TV.
Tiffany and husband Matt moved back here in 2018 shortly before the birth of their third child. They've added two more since then.
"We now have a 7-year-old son who is in second grade, a 6-year-old daughter who is in kindergarten, a 4-year-old son, a 2-year-old son and a 10-month-old daughter" she tells me. "As you can imagine, most of my free time is devoted to the kids. We spend lots of time at local parks, the library, the zoo, doing crafts at the kitchen table and turning the basement into a dodge ball arena or massive blanket fort. "
Or as she wrote on Faceook, "the five munchkins keep me very busy."
In what free time she has, Wilson restores furniture in their Loveland-area home. The TV news anchor can "often be found with paint splatters on my fingers and clothes," she says.
Since coming home, Wilson has been in regular contact with Jeff Benscoter, Channel 5 news director.
"Tiffany is a pro. She knows this city well and that is a huge benefit for our viewers in her new role at WLWT News 5. I'm so glad the timing was right for her to join our team this spring," Benscoter says.
Wilson would like to do more for WLWT-TV, but she hasn't discussed that with him.
"Jeff knows that a part-time role is the perfect fit for me and I'm very grateful that he extended this wonderful opportunity. I feel truly blessed that I am able to return to local news in Cincinnati at WLWT."
