Longtime anchor leaving for Raleigh
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Calling the decision “bittersweet,” anchor Jeff Hogan will leave WBNS-TV ( Channel 10) after nearly 20 years for a similar job in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Hogan’s last day at Channel 10, a CBS affiliate, will be Jan. 21. In Raleigh, he will help anchor the weekday morning and noon newscasts at WRAL-TV, an NBC affiliate, beginning Jan. 29. In June, when longtime anchor Bill Leslie retires, Hogan will take over the spot.
“There have been other opportunities ( to leave), but the best thing for me to do every single time was to stay,” Hogan said. “Columbus has been wonderful. But this was one of those opportunities that meant that much to me that I decided to go after.”
Hogan cited the position, the timing, the location and the company as reasons he was drawn to Raleigh.
“Anybody who knows anything in the business, they put WRAL on a parallel with WBNS,” he said. “This is just the Southern version of it.”
Hogan, 49, was the main sports anchor for WBNS from 1998 to 2009. He then moved to the news side, anchoring the weekday morning news until switching in January to his current position anchoring weekend evenings.
The University of Rhode Island graduate worked in New Jersey, New York, Texas and Virginia before joining WBNS in 1998. He and his wife, Jeanne, have two teenage daughters.
John Cardenas, president and general manager of WBNS, said the station is “very sorry to see him leave, but at the same time we’re very happy for him.”
“It sounds like a great opportunity for him, and we wish him nothing but the very best.”