Caroline Collins debuted on FOX 26 Houston KRIV in early January 2023, but who is taking her place at her old station of KSEE24 Sunrise News Fresno, California?
The answer is Taryn Mitchell who comes from KION NewsChannel 5 Monterey, California where she was also a morning anchor.
Collins has been a polarizing hire for FOX 26. While her Houston followers are excited she's here, TV industry folks aren't excited about her TikTok dancing.
The thing is, other KRIV anchors have been making dancing videos for years. Welcome to today's media environment. News flash, many anchors/reporters/meteorologists around the nation are dancing away for followers.
Local television news consultants must be telling stations around the country, to attract younger viewers, stop pre-reading scripts and get down in front of your phone camera for social! Oh and here's the hashtag and emoji to use too.
Give Collins a "like" for giving them what they want and apparently being the best at it in the US. She did earn a Master’s Degree in Communication Technology with a social media specialization after all.
My guess for Collins' hire, and those I've talked to in the Houston media world agree, is that FOX 26 is probably looking to point her 1.5 million followers to its digital streams for a nice traffic boost. Even just a fraction of her followers could make a difference.
The Houston TV managers I've been talking to (not at KRIV) tell me that the TV station's corporate owners really want to focus on digital and get those numbers up.
And besides digital news streams, Collins' is giving a boost to other FOX 26 anchor social accounts according to what they have been saying in their posts.
