'I like being a news anchor, but I like being happy more': Kristen Swilley announces departure from WCPO 9 - Cincinnati Business Courier (2024)

A Cincinnati news anchor announced she’s stepping down after nearly a decade on the air, just weeks after her station announced the impending elimination of two anchor positions.

WCPO-TV 9 News’ Kristen Swilley will helm her final broadcast next month. She was hired as a reporter and fill-in anchor in 2015. She was promoted to the weekend morning anchor position three years ago.

“Leaving is emotional because I like being a news anchor, but I like being happy more,” Swilley said in a news release. “It simply doesn’t make sense to stay.”

Swilley’s announcement comes just weeks after the station broke the news that it will be eliminating two anchor positions as part of a staffing change.

“I’m choosing to leave and have not been laid off,” Swilley told me. “Fortunately, I made the decision to leave the station on my own terms at the end of last year, unrelated to the impending layoffs."

According to the station’s vice president and general manager, Jeff Brogan, Swilley’s position is not one of the two anchor jobs getting the axe.

“We are actively recruiting for the weekend morning anchor,” he told me.

Swilley said she made the tough decision to leave when she had the realization that there was no room left for her to grow at the station.

“Obviously the anchor opportunities at Scripps are getting fewer and farther between,” she said. “The recent announcement about two anchor positions being cut at WCPO saddens me and has only reassured me of my choice to move on. I wish my soon-to-be former colleagues, especially the two departing, the best."

Brogan would not confirm with theCourierwhich of the remaining anchors will lose their jobs. Swilley also did not confirm that information with the Courier.

Swilley said working at the station over the past nine years has made a profound impact on the trajectory of her life.

“I loved working at WCPO,” she said. “I met my husband there. We bought a house, adopted a dog and plan to raise a family here in Cincinnati.”

Swilley already has another gig lined up. She won’t be in front of the camera anymore, but her new role is spotlight adjacent. She’ll be staying in the Queen City, working with local public relations firm Wordsworth Communications.

“I’ll be doing the vast majority of my job from home, and I’ll have a regular schedule for the first time in my adult life,” she said.

Morning news anchors typically arrive at work between 3 a.m. and 3:30 a.m., with their first show often starting as early as 4:30 a.m. Often times they don’t end up leaving work until the early afternoon. Weekend anchors also typically have off days in the middle of the week, often missing out on that traditional weekend.

Swilley said that she’s looking forward to being able to explore the city she’s grown to love with a full night’s sleep.

“If viewers see me at a coffee shop or a plant store, I hope they’ll say hi,” she said. “I’m not changing my hair, so I should be easy to spot.”

Following Swilley’s departure next month, WCPO will have seven anchors including:

The station also has four meteorologists, one traffic reporter, three investigative reporters, 11 news reporters and three sports anchors/reporters along with dozens of behind the camera employees including producers, editors, photographers, assignment editors, production staff and various levels of management.

Brogan previously told the Courier that the staffing changes are being made to keep the station “solid for the future.” He also said that WCPO’s parent company, Cincinnati-based E.W. Scripps Co., conducted extensive research over the past six years across the country in markets including Cincinnati. Researchers talked to a wide range of individuals about what they need from local news.

“People told us what they want, and we got the message loud and clear,” Brogan said. “They care most about the coverage we provide in their neighborhood. That is where we are investing.”

The station is making changes to staffing so it can build the largest reporting staff of any newsroom in Cincinnati, Brogan added. The station plans on hiring five additional reporters and recently promoted longtime investigative reporter Craig Cheatham to executive reporter, a new position. In the role, he will focus on training the station’s reporting team.

Brogan did not disclose when the staffing changes will go into effect. He also didn’t say if more positions will be eliminated in the future. He did provide the following statement when the initial announcement was made earlier this month:

We are using new technology right now in some of our newscasts to help us spend more time working on stories. Right now, the 4 p.m. (newscast) and FC Cincinnati Weekly are produced using this technology. We will be adding Cincy Lifestyle, Noon and 11 p.m. to the mix. This technology tool doesn’t dictate what the show looks like or what the content is. Our team decides that every day, for every newscast. We work to make each show interesting and valuable – right now, some of every newscast is live and some is on tape. That is true at Scripps stations across the country. We will always have live elements like weather and breaking news. This technology allows us to be flexible, like any other newscast. We can go live whenever we want.

WCPO is one of four major TV news stations in the Cincinnati market, which also includes WLWT-TV New 5, WXIX-TV Fox 19 Now and Local 12 WKRC-TV.

Nationally, WCPO parent E.W. Scripps Co. has 41 stations in 61 markets. It also operators several TV networks, including Ion. It ranks as Greater Cincinnati’s eighth-largest public company with $2.3 billion in 2023 revenue.