Wave of departures hits New Orleans TV stations
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Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Many familiar faces have come and gone from New Orleans TV stations this year, especially at WDSU and WWL.
Why it matters: Local TV personalities become part of viewers' daily routines, making changes behind the anchor desk especially noticeable.
The big picture: WWL had the latest shakeup, with two of its anchors leaving for jobs in bigger markets.
- Charisse Gibson signs off Friday for a job in Los Angeles, where she'll compete with former WWL anchor Sheba Turk.
- Last month, morning anchor Brheanna Boudreaux left for a job in Houston.
- Earlier this year, Alexandria Crawford left WWL to stay home with her new baby.
Zoom in: The station is shuffling its talent on the morning and evening newscasts to fill the gaps.
- Whitney Miller and sports director Doug Mouton will become morning anchors, starting next month.
- Brandon Walker, currently a morning anchor, will move to the evening newscasts, WWL told the Times-Picayune.
Over at WDSU, the station has been losing people for more than a year.
- Reporter Jonah Gilmore, who recently won an Emmy, left in January to join Mayor Helena Moreno's communications team.
- Reporter Shay O'Connor left soon after and launched her own news service called Seaux New Orleans. She announced this week that she's Delgado's new communications and marketing director.
- Reporter Cassie Schirm announced recently that she's leaving for a job in Washington, D.C.
- Morgan Lentes left earlier this year, while reporters Pari Apostolakos and Ella Wales joined the station in recent weeks.
Zoom out: Telemundo also lost a reporter this year.
What we're watching: Nexstar, which is WGNO's parent company, is seeking to buy Tegna, which owns WWL.
- The $6.2 billion deal needs to be approved by federal regulators.
The bottom line: The departures have reshaped newscasts, meaning viewers will be seeing a lot of new faces in familiar time slots.