Meteorologist Frank Marzullo assures me “this will be good” for him.
Marzullo announced on Facebook late Tuesday that “after 18 years, I have decided to leave Fox 19 to pursue other opportunities. My family and I love calling Cincinnati our home. This transition will give me more time to spend with them,” he says.
Marzullo, hired in August 2007 from Youngstown’s WFMJ-TV, was WXIX-TV’s longest-tenured meteorologist and morning news personality. He was hired in August 2007, a year before Steve Horstmeyer was lured from WKRC-TV to be chief meteorologist.
Marzullo is the third meteorologist to leave the five-person WXIX-TV weather team this year. Horstmeyer announced in November he would retire in March, but has since pushed it back to May 21. Ashley Smith left in January after seven years to be the Hoxworth Blood Center public information officer. She will be replaced by Erin Ashley, a 2023 Ohio University graduate, from a Gray Television sister station in Toledo, on Feb. 24.
Marzullo had filled in for Horstmeyer last month on the 10 p.m. news. Then he vanished in February. So he won't be around to be considered for Horstmeyer's prime-time job in May.
He has been off Channel 19 this week, including this morning, which the station designated a “Weather Alert Day.” Some fans also noticed that Marzullo in recent days changed his Facebook profile to “Former AM Meteorologist/Host at Fox19.” (Emphasis mine.) His LinkedIn profile says he worked at WXIX-TV from “August 2007 to February 2025 (17 years and 7 months).”
Although he wasn’t on TV Monday, he posted a “heads up” on Facebook about the winter storm warning issued by the National Weather Service for Tuesday. That prompted these responses from fans:
- “Thanks for the update Frank, but why have you not been in the studio? Have you decided to leave us too?”
- “Frank, we miss you!! Where are you? If I find out you aren’t coming back I’m done with Fox 19!!!
- “When Steve Horstmeyer retires who will become the chief meteorologist? Hopefully you.”
A Cleveland-area native, Marzullo began his broadcasting career in 2000 as a forecaster at WTAP-TV in Parkersburg, W. Va., while attending Ohio University. He left OU for Youngstown in December 2000, and completed his degree at Youngstown State University during his seven years at the NBC affiliate.
Five months after joining Fox 19 he was named morning meteorologist to work with anchors Sheila Gray and Rob Williams in December 2007. He has hosted the Fox 19 Now Morning News Xtra from 9-11 a.m. since September 2010.
Marzullo became the longest-tenured member of the Fox 19 morning news after Williams moved to evening newscasts in 2016. He’s the third morning personality to leave Fox 19 since July, when anchors Lauren Minor and Julie O’Neill were abruptly dismissed.
“I would like to thank all of you for tuning in to Fox 19 and following along with me on social media over the years,” he said on his WXIX news personality Facebook page. He encouraged fans to follow him on his Frank Marzullo Facebook page, adding, “Thank you for all the support!"
Shortly after Marzullo’s Facebook post, the staff was notified in a message called “Frank Marzullo Departure” from Jennifer Riefer, WXIX-TV vice president and general manager.
“I wanted to let everyone know that Frank Marzullo has decided to leave Fox 19 effective today to pursue other opportunities. Frank has been a leader in the news department for over 18 years and I would like to thank him. I certainly wish Frank well in his future endeavors and thank him for everything he’s done at Fox 19,” Riefer said.
Marzullo says he’s staying in Cincinnati.
“I love this city that embraced me when I arrived in 2007,” he says atop his Frank Marzullo WXIX news personality page on Facebook.
On LinkedIn, Marzullo says that being a TV broadcaster was a lifelong dream.
“I am extremely fortunate to say I am doing the job that I have wanted to do since I would set up news studios in my basement as a kid. For the past 25 years I have delivered a balance of personality, science, and community interaction in the markets I have called home. I also pride myself on being dedicated to the entire newsroom operation, not just focused on what's happening in the weather center, but the overall message being delivered on all platforms,” he wrote on LinkedIn.
