Catching up to TV news changes in the new year:
At WCPO
North Carolina meteorologist K.J. Jacobs made his first appearance Wednesday on WCPO-TV doing traffic reports on Good Morning Tri-State.
Jacobs was the weekend evening meteorologist for WCNC-TV, the NBC affiliate in Charlotte, N.C. He takes the place of traffic reporter/meteorologist Raven Richard, who left in June to be a full-time forecaster at WDSU-TV in New Orleans.
Jacobs will be the weekday morning traffic anchor and meteorologist working with news anchors Adrian Whitsett and Kristen Skovira and meteorologist Jennifer Ketchmark, according to CBK Media Management, which represents Jacobs.
The University of South Carolina and Mississippi State University graduate started his TV career in Oak Hill, W. Va., in 2013. He also worked at stations in Huntsville, Ala., Myrtle Beach S.C., and Norfolk, Va., before joining Charlotte's WCNC-TV in 2021.
Jacobs’ hiring is a sign that the Scripps station is committed to having a designated morning traffic reporter, like WXIX-TV’s Stefano DiPietrantonio. WLWT-TV uses meteorologist or anchors to do traffic reports. WKRC-TV’s Jen Dalton also reports from the alert desk and co-hosts the 8 a.m. ARC/Good Morning Cincinnati hour with Bob Herzog. (ARC is a Sinclair Broadcast Group branding that stands for “Authentic, Relevant, Community.”)
“Traffic is still important to our audience, so we feel having one person dedicated to traffic reporting needs to be part of Good Morning Tri-State," says Jeff Brogan, WCPO-TV vice president and general manager. "All you have to do is look at the back-ups around town in the morning and the impact of the closure of the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge.” Jacobs also assists Ketchmark with forecasting and reporting on traffic related stories, Brogan says.
At WXIX
WXIX-TV meteorologist Ashley Smith has announced she was leaving television to do communications for Hoxworth Blood Center. And that she’s engaged.
"A lot has happened in a week,” she posted on Facebook Sunday. ”I went from being a broadcast meteorologist to a new career with Hoxworth Blood Center and I became a FIANCE!!”
Smith has been a TV meteorologist for almost 17 years since graduating from Penn State University in 2008. The West Virginia native worked at stations in Kirksville Mo., Charleston W. Va., and Carterville, Ill., before coming to WXIX-TV in September 2007.
“I've fallen in love with Cincinnati. I also fell in love with a man I met while working at FOX 19. And now we're getting MARRIED! I'm so excited for the future. And if I'm being honest, that's something I couldn't say a few months ago. But now life is looking up professionally and personally,” she wrote.
“Thank you to the viewers for constantly making me feel welcome here. For all the people who have helped me professionally both at Fox and outside the station in a professional manner, you are amazing! Don't be shy if you see me around. Please say hi and ask me about the weather! I'm still a meteorologist after all ... Even if it's not my job.”
Smith did not respond to several requests for comment.
With more to come
In two months, WXIX-TV will need to fill another weather opening. Chief Meteorologist Steve Horstmeyer, 71, announced in November that he’s retiring in March after 48 years as a TV meteorologist.
Smith’s weekend morning partner, Payton Marshall, started this week as evening news anchor at WCHS-TV in Charleston-Huntington, W. Va. The 2013 Mount Notre Dame graduate left Channel 19 at the end of December.
Marshall called her new job “a dream come true.”
She earned degrees in theater and dance from Wittenberg University (2017) and in journalism/broadcast news from the University of Cincinnati (2019). She worked two years at Dayton’s WKEF-TV before coming to WXIX-TV in 2021.
