Lexington’s TV station ABC 36 shakes up news operation: News director Miranda Combs out
Lexington television station ABC 36 WTVQ TV has shaken up its news structure, pushing aside longtime broadcast journalist Miranda Combs.
A former WTVQ evening anchor and an investigative journalist, Combs had been news director at the station since Spring of 2022.
“The news director job has been eliminated,” Combs said in an interview Jan. 30.
Similar positions at other Morris Network stations have also been impacted, she said.
Parent company Morris Network, based in Savannah, Ga., created a position overseeing all six of its stations, confirmed WTVQ general manager Chris Mossman.
Mossman said he could not comment on any personnel matters, but that, “Russ Geller is news operations manager, working out of the Lexington station, for all of the Morris stations, effective Feb. 3.”
Geller, who joined WTVQ in 2024 as managing editor for the station and had been content manager for digital for the group, will be in charge of news for Morris stations in Lexington; Macon, Ga.; Biloxi-Gulfport, Miss.; Columbus-Tupelo-West Point, Miss.; Wilmington, N.C.; and Chattanooga, Tenn., Mossman confirmed.
Mossman said each station will have a local news content manager who will make specific market recommendations with guidance from the news operations manager.
WTVQ does not have a person in this position at the moment but Mossman said they have “an interim plan.”
Combs said she had not been offered that position, which would entail a substantial pay cut.
Combs, a veteran Lexington broadcaster, spent more than 20 years at WKYT, Lexington’s CBS news station, before leaving in 2019 to work as press secretary for Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams.
In the summer of 2021, she was named assistant news director at FOX 56 and moved to WTVQ as news director in March 2022.
“We’re going to do big things at ABC 36,” Combs said at the time. “News is what I know best, and we’re going to show viewers ABC 36 is the place they will trust and love to be a part of each day.”
In 2023, she also was an interim anchor on WTVQ’s evening local news on weekdays and a morning anchor as well.
During her tenure, WTVQ beefed up its news coverage and added people, including veteran broadcaster T.G. Shuck at weather, Jeff Piecoro at sports, Doug and Lyssa High at a new mid-day news show, Paxton Boyd as evening anchor and added more hours of news. Ratings also have been on the rise, according to WTVQ’s promos.
Combs said that the most recent ratings show WTVQ’s morning shows up almost 20% in some slots, with similar gains in the evening.
This story was originally published January 30, 2025 at 11:45 AM.
