WCPO anchor Carol Williams is retiring after more than 30 years as an anchor at the Scripps-owned Cincinnati ABC affiliate.
Williams, who started at the station in 1986, went part-time last year. Her last newscast will be tonight’s 6 p.m.
“It seemed like the time was right,” said Williams. “I look forward to the time that I can kind of just be in sync with the rest of the world.”
She started her career at WGAL in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
“Carol broke through a major barrier,” said vp and GM Jeff Brogan talking about who said Williams was one of the first women in the market to anchor one of the station’s main newscast. “To come in and be one of the first in that important role and keep it for more than 30 years is quite an accomplishment.”
From WCPO:
It was Easter Sunday in 1993 when prisoners began a riot at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville 83 miles east of Cincinnati.
Tanya O’Rourke was a college student working for Channel 9, calling employees to ask who would come in to help cover the big story. Person after person refused until O’Rourke reached Carol Williams, the veteran anchor whose daughter was a baby at the time.
“It was Carol who answered the call and came in,” O’Rourke said. “My respect for her grew enormously that day. And I learned from her that sometimes you just have to do these things.”