New Charlotte Anchor Ready to Lead

By Kevin Eck 

New WCNC anchor Fred Shropshire says he’s ready to help the Charlotte NBC affiliate in its ratings battle against WSOC and WBTV.

“I’ve got a desire to lead, not just in the newsroom but in the news market,” Shropshire told the Charlotte Observer. “A desire to get my hands dirty.”

Charlotte’s rapid growth means new potential viewers are moving in every day, giving WCNC an opportunity for growth, he says.

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Shropshire wants to be an anchor who gets out and reports, and he got that chance last week when WCNC general manager Deborah Collura called and asked him to break off from his get-acquainted tour of Charlotte and head to Charleston to field anchor coverage of the church shootings.

It was an emotionally hard story, Shropshire says, not only for those affected but for those who come to report on it. He says he had to spend some personal time processing the tragedy.

“I’m a praying person, a person of faith,” he says. “I read my Bible and scriptures.”

Mostly, he says, he realizes that reporters have an important role in helping people understand such calamities, and never forgets a lesson he was taught by a bunch of kids trying to save their school back in Chicago.

“You have to remember,” he says, “that all stories have a universal truth that people can identify with.”

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