In a move that news director Rita Andolsen called one of the hardest things she’s ever had to do in this business, Cleveland NBC-affiliate WKYC has decided to let go of weekend and noon weathercaster A.J. Colby.
Colby, who started with WKYC in 2005 and has been a full-time staffer since 2007, told The Plain Dealer that he was informed of the station’s decision following the noon newscast last Wednesday. His final day on the air is set for May 29th.
“Rita told me it had nothing to do with my performance,” Colby told The Plain Dealer. “They’ve been very nice to me, and I was grateful they gave me that amount of time to look for something else. She said they were just going in a different direction. I don’t know what the different direction is, but I apparently didn’t fit into it.”
Colby grew up in the Cleveland area and has been a presence on TV there for the past decade, working at WJW and WEWS before joining WKYC.
Here’s a recent forecast from Colby: