Veteran investigative reporter Steve Wilson, who spent nearly a decade with Detroit’s WXYZ before leaving in 2010 after his contract was not renewed, is returning to TV with WJXX-WTLV in Jacksonville.
WXYZ reporter Ross Jones announced the move this week on the Michigan Radio and TV Buzzboard.
“Bad guys in Florida: your days are numbered,” Jones wrote on the forum. “On Monday, Steve Wilson was named investigative reporter at the Gannett station in Jacksonville.”
Wilson responded to well-wishes on the board following Jones’ announcement and said that the NBC-ABC duopoly, which is branded as First Coast News, plans “a big launch of the new I-team starting with opening night of the Summer Olympics.”
In the summer of 2010, Wilson suffered a massive hard attack and he’s used his time away from TV to get healthier.
“My doctors at the Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic have picked up where the Henry Ford team literally brought me back from the dead and thanks to all of them–and regular handfuls of product from America’s fine pharmaceutical companies–I am feeling much better these days,” Wilson wrote on the board. “It’s still a lifelong work in progress but I’m happy to report that I’m a little tanned, a little thinner, rested and ready to get back to the job!”
Many Detroit viewers remember Wilson for his combative relationship with Kwame Kilpatrick and his hard-nosed coverage of the former mayor’s legal troubles. Here’s video of Wilson in action…
[MI Buzzboard, Crain’s]