Cincinnati native Lauren Minor revealed Friday how and why she abruptly left WXIX-TV last month after five years in a Facebook post.
“On July 8th, I was informed by management that they no longer wanted to continue contract negotiations on a new deal. Additionally, I was informed that my services were no longer needed. I spent the rest of the summer enjoying time with my family at home,” says Minor, a Northern Kentucky University graduate.
Minor made the comment on social media at midnight, immediately after her Fox 19 contract expired. She also announced that she’ll soon start anchoring evening newscasts at WLEX-TV in Lexington, Ky.
Before coming to Channel 19’s morning newscasts in 2019, Minor was an anchor-reporter at Lexington’s WKYT-TV, according CBK Media Management, a broadcast talent agency that represents her.
At WLEX-TV, Minor will co-anchor the 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. weekday newscasts, CBK Media Management says. The NBC affiliate is owned by Cincinnati-based E.W. Scripps Company, and is a sister station to WCPO-TV.
Minor was fired two months after she lost her morning anchor job in May when the station named Amber Jayanth and Now in the Nati host Julie O’Neill as main morning anchors. Minor, Dan Wells and Andrea Finney were assigned new duties in May.
Minor did morning alert desk reports, anchored the 8 a.m. hour of Fox 19 Morning Xtra, and filled in when O’Neill or Jayanth were off. A month later, on Aug. 8, O’Neill also was abruptly terminated by the station.
In her social media post Friday, Minor said she wanted to thank everyone “for all the social media messages, text messages, email and phone calls that I received over these last six weeks ... I didn’t get the opportunity to say it on air, but THANK YOU for welcoming me into your home and trusting me to share stories throughout your community. I spent the past five years making the best memories with some of my favorite people and I couldn’t be more grateful.“
Minor, who also studied at the University of Kentucky (2008-11), started her career in 2013 as an assignment editor and production assistant at WKRC-TV before being hired as a multimedia journalist at WTWO-TV in Terre Haute, Ind. She also co-hosted Good Day Live, a weekday lifestyle and entertainment show in Terra Haute.
In December 2022, Minor and meteorologist Catherine Bodak started a Mic’d Up Moms podcast at WXIX-TV. She also won an Ohio Valley National Emmy Award in 2022 for her breaking news reporting of four tornadoes in Western Kentucky that killed more than 50 people.
