WMAZ's new anchor debut.

[gartv]

Leah Johnson made her debut on "13 WMAZ Eyewitness News" at 6pm. She comes from WSPA-7 in Spartanburg SC. Also WMAZ has a new meteorologist. He is Grant Gilmore, a graduate of UNC Ashville and interned at WLOS-13 in Ashville, NC. He is working the morning news.

Over the weekend, I caught a new face doing weather on the "weekend mornin'" show. I did not catch her name as it was toward the end of the news. She is an African-American woman who appeared to be in her 30's and seemed quite experienced on the air. However she is not mentioned on the WMAZ website.


Back to Leah Johnson, she was great. The problem here is with WMAZ. Yes, they did remodel most of their news sets. The interview and sports sets are the same as is the Warner Robins news studio.

Also, theres still the same old graphics and music. The music is the WWL News package used for well over a decade. The graphics are probably 6 years old and the station logo much older than that.

I had hoped they would have done a complete makeover instead of just changing the anchor and weather desks. A complete makeover of the station image would really compliment the addition of these new people. All of which will probably move on to bigger and better places within a couple years as usual.

[Guest]

The weekend AM wx person you mentioned is Lisa Mozier. She used to be at TWC, but is now in PR at Fernbank in ATL I believe. She was brought in only for sweeps to help the abysmal ratings nose dive.

As for the new set, it is the old set from WXIA I believe. Trust me, that place gets nothing new.

[newsdudeatl]

I've always thought very highly of Leah Campbell-Johnson. She is a very capable reporter and I enjoyed watching her during the time I lived in Greenville. Before joining WSPA she was at the FOX affiliate WHNS as a reporter/fill-in anchor. I hope she does well in Macon!

[gartv]

Guest said:

The weekend AM wx person you mentioned is Lisa Mozier. She used to be at TWC, but is now in PR at Fernbank in ATL I believe. She was brought in only for sweeps to help the abysmal ratings nose dive.

As for the new set, it is the old set from WXIA I believe. Trust me, that place gets nothing new.

I thought I knew Lisa Mozer from somewhere. But other than Storm Stories, I seldom watch The Weather Channel. And if WMAZ was really worried about a ratings nosedive, why don't they put Lisa Mozer on the WEEKDAY newscasts instead of just the weekend mornings WHEN THEY ARE THE ONLY STATION IN MACON offering news?

"Today's MGT" (41) and Fox 24 have NO weekend news at all. And the NBC station (MGT) does not directly compete with the 5 and 6pm as their news is at 5:30 against WMAZ's Andy Griffith Show. MGT also has no noon news. But its making a dent in the early morning and 11pm.

Truth is, Ben Jones (weather) has grown so annoying on WMAZ as he behaves more like a wannabe stand up comedian. He just is not funny and we don't need his lame jokes and immature behavior during a weather segment.

If they actually hired Lisa Mozer for the 5,6,and 11 newscasts, WMAZ could actually EARN the crown they always had as the leader of local television in Macon. They only have that now as a default because they are the oldest station and because of the low budgets of the area stations over the decades.

And speaking of low budget-

Even if the "new" set on WMAZ is a HAND ME DOWN, anything was an improvement over the previous one. However, they still have not updated their sit down interview area and the Warner Robins studio.

Perhaps, Gannett needs to standardize so that ALL of their stations resemble their best in the largest cities. I say this because of Hearst-Argyle's stations all put on a great product. While Gannett does great in one city and half-assed in another.

I happen to live in one of Gannett's "Half-Assed" markets.

BTW, Leah Johnson is doing great. So is Grant Gilmore. But how long until they realize that they could do better somewhere else?