New WLOSer, Rex Hodge, works Waynesville bureau

Jason Sandford July 28, 2010

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

There’s a new WLOSer on the scene. Rex Hodge is working out of the station’s Waynesville bureau. Here’s more about Hodge from the WLOS website:

REX HODGE is thrilled to joinWLOS-TV as the station’s bureau reporter in Waynesvilleand to make the beautiful mountains of Western NorthCarolinahome.

Rex started his career intelevision news in the early ’80’safter growing up in Connecticutand graduating from Emerson Collegein Boston. He followedopportunities that took him to stations across the country including Virginia,Missouri, Pennsylvania,and Florida. Mostrecently heanchored the evening news for the ABC affiliate in Tallahassee.

While anchoring and reporting for the University of Missouri-owned,KOMU-TV, heearned his Masters degree in Journalism and reported and produced aspecialprogram on Native Americans that won a national Emmy Award. He alsotraveled towar-torn Bosniashooting and reporting a series of stories that went on to win a noteddocumentary festival. For his producing and hosting of a public affairsshow inVirginia, he won aprestigiousTelly award as well.

Outside ofwork, Rex enjoys spending time with family and friends. You might also find him on the tennis courts, bike and runningtrails,golf courses or even dance floors.

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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9 Comments

former wlos-er August 2, 2010

Regarding Killian’s comments, I beleive WLOS having a Rutherfordon bureau has something to do with ratings. Rutherforton also receives Charlotte stations as well. Why not snatch up a few extra viewers in a Nielson book (which can impact ratings) from an area that is on the far reaches of the dma, but still in it, nonetheless. Make’em feel like they’re being loved on. Charlotte stations probably don’t care about Rutherfordton, unless a major news story goes down. Same with Waynesville. Haywood is a good-sized county and alot of Nielson books may very well fall in that area. Might as well make sure it’s a WLOS stronghold, not WYFF or WSPA.

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RadioLongAgo July 30, 2010

There’s not a bureau in Rutherfordton. It is in Spindale, and the facility is on the campus of Isothermal Community College… so it is probably convenient…

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White Lightnin' July 30, 2010

Katie Killian is soo sexy. Oragne, but still sexy.

-=WL=-

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News shooter July 30, 2010

Actually Boone is covered by Charlotte, just to clarify.

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Mike July 29, 2010

Bureaus in those "tiny hamlets" save about an hour or more of drive time each way, provide a presence in those communities, and allow the station to more readily cover news in the other counties on the other side (from Biltmore Park, USA) of those communities. A bureau in Murphy would be good for the Chattanooga stations, since Cherokee County (NC) is in that DMA.

Regardless of the structure of the market and how the state line delimits the population breakdown and influences coverage, Nielsen still deems it the 36th largest market, which makes it a huge step in market size from Tallahassee. Given his longevity in the business, maybe Rex has accomplished what he wanted to in terms of full-time anchoring, and saw the opportunity to utilize his experience to find a better opportunity that fits his needs now: work in a bureau setting for a top 40 market, and take advantage of occasional fill-in anchoring opportunities. Or maybe he has some other motive.

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Not So Strange July 29, 2010

Yeah, Waynesville is a "tiny hamlet" like Asheville is a great Metropolis.

They have a Waynesville bureau because if anything newsworthy happens west of Asheville in the region that everyone seems to think is the boondocks (Haywood county, Jackson county, etc.), they will have someone nearby to cover it and won’t have to send people 30 miles from Asheville. I think that makes sense, doesn’t it?

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Killian July 29, 2010

Being assigned to a Waynesville beueau is not like being an anchor or even based at WLOS studios in Biltmore Park. I’ve always found it strange that WLOS had "bureaus" in the tiny hamlets of Waynesville and Rutherfordton. What would be the justification for that set-up? Maybe they need a "bureau" in Murphy too!

The #36 tv market rankings includes Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson and all of upstate SC plus Asheville and central and southern parts of Western NC. I don’t think WLOS ever covers the Upstate SC news unless the story is really big and WYFF 4 and WSPA and Fox only focus on SC news. Realistically, WLOS only covers WNC which has the smallest number of households in the region. Interestingly, Boone, and the northern mountans area, is served by stations in East Tennessee.

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joey flash July 29, 2010

it’s actually a pretty sizable market jump for rex, from dma #106 to #36

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Duke July 28, 2010

Wow. Going from anchor of the evening news in Tallahassee, FL to a bureau reporter for WLOS in Waynesville, NC? What happened?

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