Julie O’Neill is back anchoring morning TV newscasts, the role she had for most of her 27 years at WCPO-TV until being let go in September 2022.
O’Neill returned to Cincinnati TV in January after a 15-month absence to host WXIX-TV’s heavily promoted 12:30 p.m. NOW in the Nati lifestyle show, which premiered Jan. 22.
However, on Monday she started co-anchoring mornings with Amber Jayanth in a makeover of the Fox 19 NOW morning newscasts under Chris Gegg, hired in April as news director.
“We recognized Julie as a talented veteran in the Cincinnati market and are thrilled she agreed to expand her role here at Fox 19,” says Jennifer Rieffer, WXIX-TV vice president and general manager.
Previous anchors Dan Wells, Andrea Finney and Lauren Minor have new roles at Channel 19.
Wells, a 16-year veteran, anchors at 4:30 a.m. weekdays, and reports from the alert desk for O’Neill and Jayanth. Minor anchors the 8 a.m. hour, and reports throughout the morning on “issues that affect your family, finances, and safety,” Rieffer says. Finney, hired three years ago to replace morning co-anchor Jessica Brown, will be an investigative reporter and work for the Special Projects team.
Jayanth, a St. Louis native, has spent more than half of her professional career in Southwestern Ohio at Dayton’s WKEF-TV/WRGT-TV (2011-16) and since then at WXIX-TV. She had been anchoring in the afternoon.
“Amber Jayanth has been with Fox 19 nearly eight years and has been deeply rooted in highlighting local stories through her 'Breaking Through' franchise,” Rieffer says. .
Why all the changes?
“We are expanding our morning team, as we do more local news than any other station in the market,” Rieffer says. Channel 19 broadcasts more than 12 hours of local news each weekday at 4:30 a.m.-noon; 3-7 p.m.; and 10-11:35 p.m.
Adding morning news veteran O’Neill to Fox 19 NOW could attract more viewers to Channel 19 in the tight morning ratings. Through three weeks of the May ratings “sweeps,” WXIX-TV is tied for second with WLWT-TV 6-7 a.m., with a 1.9 rating in the overnight Nielsen ratings. WKRC-TV is first (2.6). WCPO-TV is third (1.4).
By comparison, NOW in the Nati is averaging a 0.5 rating in May at 12:30 p.m. It’s third behind WKRC-TV’s The Young and The Restless (3.4), WCPO-TV news (1.3) and WLWT-TV’s Access Hollywood (0.6).
As both executive producer and host, O’Neill helped create and design the half-hour lifestyle show, and was featured in all the promotion and the show’s opening. She will be replaced in coming weeks with a co-host to work with Abby Urban.
“We are actively looking for a new NOW in the Nati co-host, and excited about the future for both the expanded team and NOW in the Nati,” Rieffer says.
The morning changes were made under Gregg, who arrived from Louisville’s WHAS-TV after news director Steve Hyvonen left in March for an Orlando station. During Hyvonen’s 8-1/2-year tenure, Channel 19 added about 20 hours of morning, afternoon and evening newscasts, including going head-to-head at 11 p.m. with the legacy newscasts on Channels 5, 9 and 12; and paired Rob Williams with main co-anchor Tricia Macke in 2016.
Gegg has 17 years of experience as news director in Louisville; Norfolk, Va.; Albany, N.Y.; and Milwaukee and Madison, Wisc. Before that, he produced newscasts in Detroit, Tampa and Toledo. Last year WHAS-TV won the regional Emmy Award for news excellence, Rieffer says.
In addition to the morning news changes, WXIX-TV is adding two sports reporters and a sports producer, which will make it the largest TV sports staff in town. In March, WXIX-TV became the Bengals flagship station by acquiring the Bengals local TV rights for August preseason game telecasts and other ”exclusive team programming,” including Bengals Weekly and From The Jungle: Bengals All Access.
Adding O’Neill to the WXIX-TV news team comes shortly after WCPO-TV announced plans to eliminate two anchor positions, and hire five reporters.
O’Neill started working off-camera at Channel 19 last October to create the lifestyle show. Her one-year “non-compete” Channel 9 contract clause prevented her from appearing on another station until January this year.
After leaving Channel 9’s airwaves Sept. 13, 2022, she rejected Scripps' $50,000 severance offer because the company insisted she sign a non-disclosure agreement prohibiting her from talking about her departure from the company. A year ago she published a memoir about her career, including how she left Channel 9, called "BOLD: The Secret to My Big Wins To Help You Crash Through Your Comfort Zone." She also sued WCPO-TV and owner E. W. Scripps Company in federal court.
