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Monday, February 02, 2026
Texas TV news and radio job moves January 2026
Send tips for the monthly Texas media job list here.
DALLAS - FORT WORTH
In the DMN op-ed "Anchors away — why familiar TV news faces have short tenures," former WFAA anchor John McCaa writes, "The reasons are many and long in coming. While some in the world of politics like to claim they have pressured newsrooms to force changes, the truth is most of the moves have resulted from an age-old business nemesis: a decline in revenue."
Eric Valadez joins CBS News Texas as managing editor.
Carter Freemon joined FOX 4 KDFW as a Dallas Digital Content Creator.
Dallas Business Journal adds reporter Michael Albanese to cover aviation and economic development.
Cumulus DFW Radio Stations Raise Over $3.5 Million for DFW Charities in 2025.
- Berkeley Taylor joins FOX 4 KDFW
- “Real Housewives of Dallas” stars get FOX 4 KDFW show
- Luke Cleary joins WFAA 8 DFW
- Mariel Ruiz returns to WFAA DFW
- Nicole Osei joins KERA as Morning Edition host
- Kara Sewell pregnancy update
- Casey Bartholomew exits WBAP 820 DFW
- Josh Johns joins FOX 4 KDFW DFW
- Jorge Almaraz joins Telemundo 39 Dallas
- Dia Wall and Matt Howerton join WFAA 8 mornings
- Julia Fife joins Wake Up America in New York
- Marc Istook to leave WFAA 8 DFW
- Gabriela Tirado joins Telemundo 39 DFW
- Kylie Capps will return
HOUSTON
Houston Dynamo announcer Glenn Davis is relieved of duties after 20 years with the club.
The Houston Chronicle launches Chowbot, which sifts through 1,300 restaurant reviews, food guides, and rankings, including the newspaper's list of the city’s Top 100 Restaurants, from critic Bao Ong and a team of food writers.
Taylor Berry joins KPRC 2 as a Manager of Content and Coverage (MCC) from KHOU 11, where she was an executive producer.
Sonia Dasgupta joins KPRC 2 as a Manager of Content and Coverage (MCC). She previously worked for WJLA 7 Washington, DC, as assistant news director.
Joey Kovacik celebrates 25 years of full-time work at 89.3 KSBJ.
Dorothy Keenan joins KPRC 2 as Office Manager/Executive Assistant.
Hope Media Group (HMG) is announcing an expanded vision for its Creative Audio Team. Gary Thompson has been named Director of Production and Audio Ministry. Kevyn Howard will serve as Director of Imaging and Brand Sound.
- Allison Gargaro returns to FOX 26 Houston
- Denise Pagano leaves 89.3 KSBJ Houston
- SportsRadio 610 'Outdoors Show' off-air
- Forrest Frank's tribute to grandfather Dr. Neil Frank
- Dominique Sachse's reinvention after KPRC 2 Houston
- Jessie Watt moves to MIX 96.5 afternoons
- Sarah Pepper returns to Houston
- Zach Lashway leaves KPRC 2 Houston
- Dave Ward honored by Houston Texans
- Kathryn Bonfield has left KHOU 11 Houston
- Shern-Min Chow to leave KHOU 11 Houston
- DJ J-Que Joins Good Morning H-Town on 97.9 The Box
- KPRC 2.4 is showing KPRC2+ streaming
- Joel Eisenbaum, KPRC 2 Houston anchor?
- Chita Craft vs the microphone
- Mekenna Earnhart joins FOX 26 Houston
- Stephania Jimenez debuts on KPRC 2 Houston
- Melanie Lawson had an amazing ABC13 Houston send-off
- Daji Aswad is married
- Isiah Factor Uncensored moves into a battleground
SAN ANTONIO
KENS-TV weather chief Bill Taylor forecasts his perfect day in San Antonio.
After 35 years at KENS 5, Raymond Silva points to AI for sudden departure.
Gilbert Gomez joins KENS 5 as 4 and 5 p.m. news producer.
News 4 San Antonio WOAI I-Team photographer/editor Kash Cashell leaves the station.
KRTU 91.7 Trinity University Student-run jazz radio station celebrates 50 years on air - debuted on January 23, 1976.
- 102.7 BOB-FM launches in San Antonio
- Sarah Duran named KENS 5 4:30 a.m. news and traffic anchor
- Stephania Jimenez signs off KSAT San Antonio
- Ryan Shoptaugh becomes TEGNA Multi-Market Meteorologist
- Madalynn Lambert debuts on KSAT 12 San Antonio
- Ted Garcia returns to FOX San Antonio
- KENS 5 San Antonio's Alicia Neaves engaged
AUSTIN
CBS Austin KEYE meteorologist Avery Tomasco is making meteorology a meme-worthy 'trauma response.'
Kimberly M. Vazquez and Alyssa Estrada join Texas Monthly.
Ali Juell joins the Austin Business Journal as a reporter focused on residential real estate.
- ChatGPT roasts KVUE Daybreak
- Jenna Wilson joins CBS Austin
- KXAN Austin highlights January-February 2006
AROUND TEXAS
Joe Riley steps down after 16 years as KWBU Waco radio director.
Alexa Conroy joins 25 News KXXV Waco-Temple-Killeen as Good Morning Texas Reporter.
Budget cuts hit KZFM Corpus Christi.
KBMT 12 News Now Beaumont's Holton Pepper named the 2026 Southeast Texas Coaches Association Van Thomas Media Person of the Year.
KLAQ El Paso host arrested on multiple charges.
Mattie Powers leaves KLBK/KAMC Lubbock for KARK/FOX 16 in Little Rock, AR.
Drew Bishop joins KRIS 6 News Corpus Christi as a reporter.
KTEN Sherman Good Morning Texoma producer Emilio Alcantara Perez leaves the station.
Bryan Reeder promoted to General Manager of Country 101.7 KSAM-FM and Classic Hits “The Lake” 1490 KHVL/94.1 K231DA/104.9 K285GE Huntsville.
El Paso Radio: FCC Orders License Hearing For 3 Stations.
KAMR Local 4 News and Fox 14 News General Manager Brandy Sanchez was announced among 10 recipients of the 2025 “Citizens on the Move” award from the Amarillo Globe-News as part of its annual “Man & Woman of the Year” celebration.
KFDM Beaumont reporter Taylor Justice is leaving the station for a new career opportunity.
KAVU Victoria meteorologist Trey Meynig will lead viewers on a colonial tour vacation this fall, combining historical exploration with the celebration of America's 250th anniversary.
- Carly Smith promoted to KIII 3NEWS Chief Meteorologist
- Ruben Juarez leaves NBC 23 KVEO RGV
- Frank McCaffrey signs off NBC 23 KVEO RGV
- Donna Conrad joins Spectrum News 1 Texas
- Ernest Strawther leaves News Channel 6 KAUZ Wichita Falls
- KCBD Lubbock weather team announces transition
- Caleb Chevalier joins KSHB 41 Kansas City
- Mari Ferrel promoted to KAMR Local 4 News Amarillo evening anchor
- KTAB - KRBC Abilene rebrand to West Texas Today and West Texas Daily
- Rachel Davis anchors KETK 4pm news
- Matthew Stell joins FOX Charlotte
- Dylan Smith leaves KRBC Abilene
- Hope Boland joins 3NEWS KIII Corpus Christi
- Diana Gomez leaves KFOX14 Morning News El Paso
- Julia Kwedi joins WBIR Channel 10 Knoxville, Tennessee
- Matthew Hidalgo joins Live 5 WCSC Charleston
- Zach Woodard promoted to NewsChannel 10 Amarillo sports director
- Ryan Bailey promoted at KGNS 8 Laredo, Brenda Camacho leaves
- Nick Canizales returns to 12News KBMT Beaumont
- Texas TV anniversaries for January and December
REMEMBERING
Veteran Corpus Christi news broadcaster Bud Lockhart dies at 90.
Lee Elsesser, a major force in TV news in the Metroplex, died January 1, 2026, in Fort Worth.
Texas media members lost in 2025
Sunday, February 01, 2026
wAIsted Dreams
BY MARK GARAY
“See the men paint their faces and cry
(Like some girls) Like some girl, it makes you wonder why
City life, sure it’s cool, but it cuts like a knife, it's your life
So, forget all that you see
It's not reality, it's just a fantasy”
- Aldo Nova “Fantasy
Scarlett Johansson is pissed! So are Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cate Blanchett, and 700 of their friends. All are actively calling for a leash on Artificial Intelligence. They don’t like how the new technology is replicating their images to sell stuff. And they really don’t like how their image rights are being sold downstream.
For their part, bigger platforms are taking notice. YouTube, for example, is requiring content creators to notify ahead of time of their use of AI. YouTube has also chosen to flag AI videos and explore software that can detect unauthorized use of the technology.
I have no idea why it has landed this way, but I find myself turning to YouTube more and more as an aspirational entertainment destination. When I was a kid, there were three main television networks to choose from. And if you were lucky, some obscure independent TV station that only defuzzed when the wind was blowing just right.
And so, it astonishes me, the number of options available to airwave originalists in this decade of digital decadence. The sheer tonnage of choices online has made anything offline a below-market risk. Yes, the world seems to be changing faster than a kid just home from church. Take a guy named Roberto Lopes Jr., a self-described “designer, architect, creative director and professor of creativity and AI”.
His work on @roblop_experience caught my eye because it married AI (which I know nothing about) to The Beatles (with whom I’m familiar).
If you are over 40 and have only a limited, if not casual, relationship to new technologies, you might be as clueless as I am about AI. Then again, I used to think Tiramisu was a Puerto Rican folk dance when I first heard the term. In fact, I was so sure that other people were as clueless as me about AI that I initiated my own private survey. So, I set up shop outside a local Kroger store and asked out loud. “What IS AI?”
“It’s a computer thing that creates stories and other things”, 67-year-old William told me. “It’s like a search engine.”
“Oh man! That’s technology that can mess people up,” said Lewis, a 28-year-old delivery man said.
“It’s something used to spread lies about people like Trump,” 38- year-old Linda feared.
“Is there anything good about it?”, I asked. “Probably not”.
Even my own 29-year-old son envisions an eventual machine revolt spurred by technology, like in The Terminator. Then again, I once had to explain the difference between butter and margarine to him at an age when I would’ve thought it was obvious.
Dictionary.com defines artificial Intelligence thusly: “the capacity of a computer, robot, programmed device, or software application to perform operations and tasks analogous to learning and decision-making in humans, such as speech recognition or question answering.” What that definition does NOT include is the human fear element. And, per usual, I can’t help but wonder how much fear has contributed to impression.
A man named Geoffrey Hinton is considered the “godfather of AI.” Hinton has regretted his life’s work because of how he says AI could become smarter than us. A couple of years ago, he quit Google to focus full time on warning the world. And as I think we’ve already seen, many others share his fears. A lack of transparency on how AI makes its conclusions and how it uses whatever input to create bias is kept under strict proprietary lock and key. Predictions are that robots will replace workers. And there’s the perceived threat to widespread privacy and technology. For example, China’s facial recognition could gather enough data to monitor peoples’ relationships and political views.
I don’t want to sound snarky, but I saw a whole new generation born upon the art world when I saw the works of Roberto Lopes Jr. the other day.
So, it comes to this for me. AI is a strange new cuisine with an untested flavor and an undefinable consistency. It is full of both bad calories and good. The results of its nourishment may make some people healthier and others sick. I’m not sure it’s a taste that will sweep the world away or take our lives to new heights. But for now, this dish is energizing us in unexpected and unexplainable ways. It’s gonna take a while to see how it affects our aggregate digestion. Meantime, consume at your own risk.
(Former ABC13 Houston KTRK anchor Mark Garay returns to mikemcguff.com as a guest blogger!)
Dominique Newland joins ABC7 KABC Los Angeles
Dominique Newland has joined ABC7 KABC Los Angeles as a reporter, effective January 2026.
Before making the move to Southern California, Newland joined FOX 10 KSAZ Phoenix in December 2023 as a weekend anchor and reporter.
Prior to Phoenix, Newland worked at KVUE in Austin, where she served as a weekend morning anchor/reporter after joining the station in November 2021. She came to Austin from KYMA 11/13 in Yuma, Arizona, where she had been working since June 2019.
Newland is a graduate of Indiana University Bloomington and previously interned with CBS’s The Late Late Show, as well as Indianapolis stations WISH-TV 8 and WTHR 13. Newland was also an anchor/reporter for Indiana University Student Television (IUSTV) and served as a special affairs chair for the local chapter of The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ).
"CBS News Atlanta Mornings" launches February 2, 2026
CBS Atlanta launches a new weekday morning newscast, "CBS News Atlanta Mornings," on February 2, 2026.
Why is a CBS-owned station in a market like Atlanta just launching a morning newscast? Well, Gray Media dropped its CBS affiliation on WANF Atlanta last summer. CBS then transitioned WUPA 69 to CBS Atlanta right after and began building a news department.
The newscast will originate from a State-of-the-Art AR/VR News Studio.
“Our goal is to meet viewers where they are in their communities and deliver news that helps them start their day informed, prepared and connected,” said Tom Canedo, president and general manager of CBS Atlanta. “This morning show reflects our commitment to meaningful local journalism, paired with the unmatched resources of CBS News.”
The "CBS News Atlanta Mornings" team includes:
Jobina Fortson-Evans, anchor
Alexa Liacko, traffic anchor
Troy Bridges, meteorologist
Kaley Fedko, reporter
Additional reporters and contributors, including two-time Emmy Award-winning journalist and reporter La’Tasha Givens and Jamal Goss, will join the "CBS News Atlanta Mornings" team in the coming weeks.
KSAT's Shelby Ebertowski gets engaged
Shelby Ebertowski is engaged.
Here is what the KSAT 12 San Antonio meteorologist said in her surprising engagement post:
"I’m forecasting something special……A WEDDING!!
When I went to North Dakota to move my boyfriend down to Texas, I didn’t think I’d come back as a fiance. I couldn’t imagine a better way for a Pilot & a Meteorologist to get engaged than underneath the beautiful northern lights! So if you see some new jewelry other than my weather earrings, no need to panic."
Ebertowski joined KSAT 12 San Antonio as a meteorologist/weather producer in January 2025.
At KSAT's Graham Media Group Houston sister station, KPRC, weekend meteorologist Daji Aswad just got married.
And as I told you last week, KENS 5 San Antonio anchor Alicia Neaves also just got engaged to a fellow TV journalist.
Daniella Guzman in Milan covering 2026 Winter Olympics
KPRC 2 Houston morning anchor Daniella Guzman is in Milan, Italy, to cover the 2026 Winter Olympics, which start February 6, 2026.
So if I get a lot of viewer questions about why Guzman isn't at the AM anchor desk, I'm pointing them to this post!
Guzman says the toughest thing will be leaving her two daughters for about four weeks, but luckily, she has a family support system in Houston.
She will be the only KPRC staffer on the trip, but told Channel 2 viewers she will be careful and has already started exploring. Guzman is not totally alone as she will be with NBC crews.
Since Guzman was previously an evening co-anchor, I can report that her successor, Stephania Jimenez, made her KPRC 2 6pm and 10pm newscast debuts last week.
Isiah Factor Uncensored moves into a battleground
FOX 26 Houston's The Isiah Factor Uncensored is moving to a new time of 11pm starting Monday, Februrary 2, 2026...but i have the insight that it is only temporary.
My "insight," and if you get that reference about host Isiah Carey, then you've been around a while, comes from the station itself.
KRIV says for the next few weeks, a brand new political show titled ‘Battleground Texas’ takes the Factor's time slot.
‘Battleground Texas’ is a co-production of FOX 26 KRIV Houston, FOX 4 KDFW Dallas -Fort Worth, and FOX 7 KTBC Austin, hosted by Greg Groogan, Steven Dial, and Rudy Koski of each station.
Readers have asked me about the whereabouts of Groogran's digital show "Red, White & Brews" lately. What I found out for them is that the show is on hiatus due to ‘Battleground Texas.’
Don't worry, "What's Your Point?" fans, I hear Groogan's Sunday-morning Houston political show is not going anywhere.
Daji Aswad is married
Daji Aswad is officially married — and her love story comes with a perfect proposal twist.
Aswad recently tied the knot with her fiancé, Fenton Petry, who proposed to the KPRC 2 weekend meteorologist on her birthday.
The wedding was held at the Gardens Houston Venues.
Petry, a Houston native who has served with the Houston Fire Department for more than two decades, met Aswad in the most unexpected place: the grocery store.
Aswad returned home to Houston in 2023 to join KPRC 2.
A graduate of the University of the Incarnate Word, Aswad previously worked at WISN 12 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as a weekend evening meteorologist and reporter. Before that, she worked at AccuWeather.
Also at Graham Media Group's sister station in San Antonio, meteorologist Shelby Ebertowski just got engaged.
Saturday, January 31, 2026
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