Kristen Swilley says she made the decision to leave WCPO-TV “on my own terms at the end of last year, unrelated to the impending layoffs.”
Her weekend morning anchor position will be filled, says Jeff Brogan, WCPO-TV vice president and general manager, so Swilley’s departure May 16 doesn’t count as one of the two news anchors to be eliminated under Brogan’s newsroom restructuring plan announced earlier this month.
“There will be two more (anchors) who will be leaving,” Brogan tells me.
"Kristen notified us she was leaving months ago and we are actively looking for a new weekend morning anchor to replace her," Brogan says.
Swilley came to WCPO-TV in October 2015 as a reporter from WMAZ-TV in Macon, Ga. She was promoted to weekend morning anchor three years ago. Swilley also anchors the noon news Wednesday through Friday.
“I’m choosing to leave Channel 9. It’s been an awesome 9 years, and I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to tell stories in a city I now proudly call home,” she posted on Facebook after her Sunday morning newscast.
“I’ve loved working at WCPO. I met my husband there,” she told me Monday. “We bought a house, adopted a dog, and plan to raise a family here in Cincinnati. But I came to the realization months ago that there was no room for me to grow at the station. Leaving is emotional because I like being a news anchor, but I like being happy more and it simply doesn’t make sense to stay.
“Obviously, the anchor opportunities at Scripps are getting fewer and farther between. The recent announcement about two anchor positions being cut at WCPO saddens me and has only reassured me of my choice to move on. I wish my former colleagues, especially the two departing, the best. “
Brogan told the newsroom three weeks ago that he was eliminating two news anchor positions and hiring five additional reporters.
“We are making changes to staffing so we can build the largest reporting staff of any newsroom in Cincinnati,” Brogan explained to me. “We are adding jobs that focus on our reporting and storytelling and will use the latest technology to help enhance our content.”
A shift in the TV business paradigm — with younger viewers getting news and information from their phones and mobile devices instead of traditional TV newscasts — prompted the change from needing news anchor desk positions to wanting more reporters on the street.
“These changes in the audience and our business, plus our investment in reporting, mean we must eliminate positions to keep our station solid for the future. Two anchor positions will be among those eliminated. These are tough decisions that we do not take lightly,” Brogan says. (Read more about the newsroom changes in my April 10 story, WCPO-TV cutting two anchor jobs, adding five reporters.)
Swilley, a 2013 graduate of Florida A&M University, began her career as reporter and fill-in anchor for two years in Macon before coming to Cincinnati as a night shift reporter for Channel 9. She has accepted a job with Woodsworth Communications, a local public relations company. She’s looking forward to a 9-to-5 job instead of working before dawn or long after dark.
“I’ll have a regular schedule for the first time in my adult life,” she says.
“Best of all, I get to stay in town! This is a city I’ve grown to love and am excited to explore on a full night’s sleep. So, if viewers see me at a coffee shop or a plant store, I hope they’ll say hi! I’m not changing my hair, so I should be easy to spot.”
