During her five years at WLWT-TV, reporter and fill-in anchor Jatara McGee kept in touch with former coworkers at WPXI-TV, where she interned in Pittsburgh, her hometown.
That's why McGee left Cincinnati's NBC affiliate at the end of the year — to go home and work at the station where she worked in 2013 during summer break from earning her broadcast journalism degree from the University of Maryland.
"It's a very exciting opportunity I couldn't turn down," says McGee, who grew up in New Kensington, northeast of Pittsburgh. "I've kept in touch with a few people there over the years, and the timing worked out."
The 2015 Maryland graduate announced on Facebook before Christmas that she was leaving Channel 5 Dec. 29.
"This wasn't an easy decision. As much as I've grown to love this city, it's time to take on a new challenge," she wrote on Facebook on Dec. 23.
Her new gig became official Friday, Jan. 26. Pittsburgh's NBC affiliate announced McGee will be WPXI-TV's weekend morning anchor and investigative reporter beginning in mid-February. She had been an investigative reporter and fill-in anchor at WLWT-TV since 2021.
"I've been explaining to my mentors, wherever the best opportunity comes up, I'll go, but I've always kept an eye on Pittsburgh and if a good opportunity opened up, you can't help but jump at it," McGee told Rob Owen, TV columnist for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
"All the stars aligned for a great opportunity in my hometown at a station with people I really respect."
After graduating from Maryland, McGee began her career as a multimedia journalist at WSAV-TV in Charleston, W. Va. She came to Cincinnati in November 2018 as a reporter. McGee also had internships in Pittsburgh at WQED-TV, KDKA-TV and KDKA-AM/Y108/Star 100.7. She is married to suburban Pittsburgh native Reggie Mitchell, who played football for the University of Pittsburgh and now works in marketing, according to Owen.
McGee and fellow reporter Meredith Stutz left Channel 5 at the end of the year, right before Megan Mitchell returned to the station after a year in Dallas. Stutz, a Cincinnati native who worked three years at WLWT-TV, announced on Facebook Dec. 27 that she was leaving broadcast news "after a lot of prayer, counsel and considering the past, present and future." She has not posted on Facebook since.
McGee says that working in Pittsburgh "is a dream come true... doing what I love, in a city I love, surrounded by so many people I love!" she wrote on Facebook Friday after the WPXI-TV announcement.
"The former intern in me is beaming with joy and so proud of the journey that lead me here. Thank you to all the coworkers, viewers, friends and sources (in W. Va. and Cincy) who have been a part of it! Cincinnati, I'll love you forever... but #HereWeGo."
