CBS Detroit has hired its first two anchors, along with a meteorologist and an executive producer for its soon to be relaunched newscasts.
Shaina Humphries and Rachelle Graham have been named anchors for the CBS owned station, which also hired meteorologist Ahmad Bajjey and executive producer of community impact Amyre Makupson.
CBS said its Detroit station “is the hyper-local streaming and broadcast news service that is being built from scratch and will be launched this fall by WWJ-TV (CBS 62) and WKBD-TV (CW50), the CBS-owned stations in Detroit.”
Humphries most recently served as a co-anchor of the weekday evening newscasts at WTXF in Philadelphia. Before that, she was an anchor and reporter at KCCI in Des Moines, Iowa.
Detroit area native Graham most recently anchored and reported for the NBC, Fox and CW network affiliated stations in Flint, Mich. She also anchored and reported for the CBS Television Network affiliate in Greenville, S.C.—and started her career as a multimedia journalist at WPTA in Fort Wayne, Ind.
Bajjey, a Dearborn, Mich. native, has spent the past nine-and-a-half years with the NBC, Fox and CW network affiliated stations in Flint. He spent the past 17 months as the stations’ chief meteorologist.
Makupson, a Detroit native, started her career in Lima, Ohio, where she worked for the CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox network affiliates. Makupson then produced and anchored newscasts for stations in Macon and Albany, Ga. After that, she became the news director at WMUB with Mercer University’s Center for Collaborative Journalism and a partner correspondent for WMAZ in Macon. Her mother anchored at WKBD from 1975-2002.
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- Amyre Makupson
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- Shaina Humphries
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- Rachelle Graham
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- Ahmad Bajjey
“As we move forward with this unprecedented opportunity to build the newsroom of the future from the ground up and with a streaming-first mentality, we are excited to welcome Shaina, Rachelle, Ahmad and Amyre to CBS News Detroit,” said Brian Watson, vice president & general manager of CBS Detroit. “They are part of our growing team of grassroots journalists who will set the standard for community-focused news reporting in Detroit.”
“Credible local news coverage is more important than ever,” said Paul Pytlowany, news director of CBS News Detroit. “Shaina, Rachelle, Ahmad and Amyre’s commitment to in-depth storytelling and weather coverage will be vital to our viewers. Their commitment is in alignment with our vision of turning neighborhoods into newsrooms and reflects their passion for creating original content for the communities we are honored to serve.”
CBS News Detroit said it plans to continue hiring and plans to have a staff that “will consist of a diverse team of journalists who will be embedded full-time in communities across the Detroit area, as well as at the state capital in Lansing, Michigan.”
The creation of CBS News Detroit marks the first time WWJ will have its own full-scale local news department since becoming a CBS Television Network-owned station in 1995.