Julie O’Neill’s comeback on WXIX-TV has ended in eight months
The former WCPO-TV anchor – who returned to Cincinnati airwaves in January hosting Channel 19’s NOW in the Nati lifestyle show before being moved to co-anchoring Fox 19 NOW morning news in May – has left the station.
“Julie O’Neill is no longer with WXIX Fox 19. We wish her the best,” said a staff memo from Jennifer Rieffer, WXIX-TV vice president and general manager. Rieffer declined to elaborate or comment Thursday.
O’Neill said she could not comment when I contacted her Thursday evening.
She is the second Channel 19 morning news personality to leave the station in the past month. Lauren Minor abruptly left the station the week of July 11 after five years.
O’Neill, a 27-year WCPO-TV veteran, started working off camera last October at Channel 19 preparing to premiere her new half-hour NOW in the Nati program at 12:30 p.m. Jan. 22.
Four months later she was suddenly switched to 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,” Rieffer said in May.
Some viewers were upset that the new anchor team displaced morning anchors Minor, Dan Wells and Andrea Finney.
Minor was shifted to doing morning alert desk reports and anchoring the 8 a.m. Fox 19 Morning Xtra hour until leaving the station.
Wells has anchored at 4:30 a.m. and reported from the alert desk. He has filled in on the anchor desk during vacations for Jayanth and O’Neill.
Finney, hired three years ago to replace morning co-anchor Jessica Brown, is now a special projects/investigative journalist at the station.
O’Neill left Channel 9’s airwaves on Sept. 13, 2022 when told her contract would not be renewed at the end of the year. She rejected Scripps' $50,000 severance offer because the company insisted she sign a non-disclosure agreement prohibiting from talking about her departure. 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.
