Evan Millward and Jasmine Styles, who have co-anchored WCPO-TV’s 11 p.m. news since Thanksgiving 2022, are leaving later this month as part of the station’s plan to cut two news anchor positions and hire five more reporters.
“Sometimes you have to seize an opportunity when it’s presented. Simply, the changes here came at the right time for me to make a change of my own. My choice to walk away,” said a Thursday Facebook post by Millward, a 10-year employee who grew up in the Dayton suburb of Beavercreek.
Styles, hired in January 2022 from the sister Scripps station in Tampa, at the same time posted on Facebook: “After more than a decade of living out my collegiate dream of getting a real job and doing well at it — it’s time for a break. Y’all know I’m good for a sabbatical. This one’s just a little longer. I am very content with this decision and I plan to use this free time for radical rest, self-improvement, and of course wedding planning.”
Jeff Brogan, WCPO-TV vice president and general manager, confirmed that their departures fulfilled his goal of eliminating two anchor positions at the station.
Earlier this week Kristen Swilley, the weekend morning anchor, announced she was leaving to join Wordsworth Communications. Her position did not count as one of Brogan’s anchor reductions and says Swilley's job will be filled.
Brogan told the newsroom staff April 5 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. This will help us deliver the best coverage of communities across the Tri-State,” 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 said earlier. (Read more about the newsroom changes in my April 10 story, WCPO-TV cutting two anchor jobs, adding five reporters.)
Millward and Styles took over the 11 p.m. newscasts when Brogan moved main anchors Tanya O’Rourke and Craig McKee to dayshift so they could do more reporting.
Millward, a 2011 graduate of Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, was hired in July 2014 from KMIZ-TV in Columbia, Mo. He began his visual storytelling at the Columbus Dispatch as a videographer and web producer in 2011. His last day at Channel 9 is Friday, May 24.
“I would like to stay in Cincy (it’s home at this point) and in TV or news, but open to all options really," Millward emailed me while shooting a story. "Taking some time off should help bring some clarity.”
On Facebook he explained: “I know walking away is the right step, but I also have so many stories left to tell here. What’s next? Some rest, unplugging and reflection. Not a bad way to kick start summer. We have some time together. Let’s make May count! Much love to you!”
Styles, a 2012 Florida State University graduate, was hired in January 2022 as a co-anchor at 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. and reporter.
“I’m excited to hang out with the people I love without having to take PTO and stay with them longer than just a weekend. I have dedicated my life to my career, sometimes at my detriment,” she wrote on Facebook.
“But when an opportunity came to walk away, I couldn’t say no. I’m grateful for my time in Cincy and I’ll still be around! I can’t wait to explore now that I have more time. What’s next? Who knows? Because at the end of the day, the day gotta end.”
