After nine-and-a-half years as a reporter/anchor at WXIX-TV, Ken Brown is leaving to become Middletown’s new communications director.
“I’m very excited about the opportunity. It’s the right move for me and my family,” says Brown, who joined Fox 19 in June 2016.
Brown, a Liberty Township resident who grew up east of Cleveland in Mentor, joins the trend of Cincinnati TV personalities who quit broadcasting after about 10 years. Most recently, WLWT-TV meteorologist Katie Donovan announced Sunday, Dec. 28, that she was leaving to spend more time with her young family and “finally share weekends off with my husband.”
All four Cincinnati TV newsrooms have seen talented young staffers abandon their on-air television careers in recent years:
- Ashley Smith, Ethan Emory, Lauren Artino, Katie Kenney, Trevor Peters (WXIX-TV);
- Brad Underwood, Alexa Helwig, Kathryn Robinson, Clancy Burke, Erica Collura (WKRC-TV);
- Donovan, Olivia Ray, Mollie Lair, Alenna Martella, Brandon Saho (WLWT-TV);
- Kristen Swilley, Jake Ryle, Evan Millward (WCPO-TV).
Brown replaces Clayton Castle, who announced last month that he was resigning as Middletown communications manager on Dec. 31.
Brown started his TV career as a sports reporter at WJET-TV in Erie, Pennsylvania, after graduating in 2010 from Kent State University. He was anchoring weekend sports when he left in 2012 to anchor weekend sports at WBRE-TV/WYOU-TV in Scranton, until coming to Channel 19 in June 2016.
“Nine and one-half years goes by in the blink of an eye,” Brown says. He plans to announce his departure from Channel 19 on New Year’s Day on social media.
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