KMOV reporter Julian Johnson is leaving the St. Louis CBS affiliate to work for his former gm Mark Pimentel at WGCL in Atlanta.
Johnson will also be re-united with former KMOV anchor Sharon Reed who started at WGCL in May. Johnson has worked at KMOV since September 2013. He’ll be a general assignment reporter at the Meredith-owned Atlanta CBS affiliate starting September 7.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports this is the fifth on-air talent to leave KMOV since May.
Last week, 40-year veteran Robin Smith, 16-year vet Craig Cheatham and rising reporter Brittany Noble-Jones all announced they were leaving the station. Anchor Sharon Reed got the departure ball rolling in May, when she left KMOV to become a main anchor at the CBS affiliate in Atlanta.
[KMOV gm Mike] Murphy said departures are “part of the business,” noting that Smith is retiring; Cheatham is moving into management as an assistant news director in Minneapolis; and Noble-Jones is taking an anchor position in Jackson, Miss.“These are opportunities” for those leaving, Murphy said. “They’re all leaving with blessings.”
Murphy noted that Johnson is going to join Reed in Atlanta, where former KMOV general manager Mark Pimentel is now in charge.
“Mark was close to his newsroom people,” Murphy said, also noting that Atlanta is a bigger market than St. Louis.