Gail Huff, wife of Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown, has left ABC affiliate WCVB-TV in Boston to join Washington, D.C.’s ABC affiliate, WJLA, as a part-time special projects reporter. The morning newscast on her old network announced this morning that she had made the decision to leave in order to spend more time with her family.
WaPo reports that Huff signed a two-year contract and will cover consumer, investigative, and medical stories, though not politics. Huff is scheduled to start in September. She had been with WCVB for 17 years.
Release from ABC7/WJLA-TV after the jump.
Arlington, VA, June 8, 2010 – ABC7/WJLA-TV announced today that award-winning Boston journalist Gail Huff will join the WJLA news team. Gail Huff has been a universally respected reporter for WCVB-TV in Boston for the past seventeen years. She will join WJLA as a part-time special projects reporter in September.
“I am thrilled to join the winning team at ABC7/WJLA-TV,” Huff says. “The station is recognized as the journalistic leader in the Washington D.C. market year after year and I look forward to working with the station’s already wonderful staff.”
ABC7 Station Manager Bill Lord says, “We are extremely happy to have recruited a reporter of Gail’s caliber. She will fit in perfectly as we continue to add high-profile talent to our team and as we continue to add resources to our special projects and investigative unit.”
This announcement comes on heels of WJLA’s recent coup hiring legendary meteorologist Bob Ryan away from competitor WRC-TV.
“We want to offer our viewers the best possible line-up in every area of our news coverage and Gail brings that quality of work to Special Projects reporting,” Lord added.
Until now, Huff has spent the majority of her professional career at WCVB in Boston. She is married to recently elected U.S. Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) and the couple has two adult daughters.
“The move to Washington will be the best of all worlds for me,” Huff says. “I will be able to spend time with my family and still work three days a week at the job I have loved all my life.”
WJLA-TV was recently honored with the regional Edward R. Murrow Award for Overall Excellence. It has won the Associated Press Award for Best News Operation for the past six years.
The station is home to some of America’s best local journalists including, among others, Leon Harris, Gordon Peterson, Alison Starling and Maureen Bunyan.