Here's Your Sign
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KNXV (Phoenix) Morning Anchor Christopher Sign is leaving the Vally of the Sun and headed to Alabama.
Sign is headed back to WBMA in Birmingham, a station he worked at as a Reporter for 5 years. He's coming back to Bama as the main Anchor and he starts next month.
Here are the internal memos that went out at both stations and obtained by FTVLive:
Hi everyone –
I’m pleased to let you all know Christopher Sign will join ABC 33/40 News as evening co-anchor beginning October 23. Christopher is currently a morning anchor at KNXV-TV in Phoenix, but this is a homecoming for Chris and his wife. Both attended the University of Alabama and many of you worked with him when he was here as a reporter.
During his time in Phoenix Christopher covered some of the biggest stories in the Valley. In 2016 Christopher broke the story of the tarmac meeting between former President Bill Clinton and Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Christopher received several journalism awards for his coverage of breaking news while in Phoenix. Those include the 2014 Emmy Award for Breaking News for his extended live coverage after two Phoenix police officers were shot and the 2006 Edward R. Murrow Award for spot news and Emmy Award for Breaking News for his coverage of the search for the Baseline Killer and Serial Shooter.
As I mentioned Christopher worked as a reporter for ABC 33/40 from 2000-2005. During his time here he covered the Brookwood mine disaster, several severe weather outbreaks, and hurricanes Charlie, Frances, and Ivan. Christopher and Bill Castle became trapped by the storm surge of Hurricane Ivan and eventually had to be rescued.
Christopher grew up near Dallas and not only attended UA - he spent four years as an offensive lineman for the Crimson Tide playing for coach Gene Stallings. While at Alabama he met his wife, Laura, an All-SEC volleyball player. They have three young sons and look forward to returning to Alabama. Chris will start with us the week before he goes on-air.
With Chris joining the team we will reconfigure the evening news lineup. Chris will co-anchor the4pm with Pam and the 6 & 10 with Brenda. Brenda and Pam will continue to co-anchor the 5pm. Wendell will no longer split his shift and become part of the Midday news team.
Jeff Houston
News Director
And here is the memo that went out in Phoenix.
All,
There are few journalists in our newsroom that embody the ABC15 Arizona fabric as much as Christopher Sign. After 12 years as a reporter,anchor and innovator, new adventure has come calling.
In mid-October, Christopher will be moving his family to Birmingham, Alabama where he’ll take over as evening anchor at WBMA. For those of you who know Chris well, Alabama is in his blood. He played football at the University of Alabama and met his wife at the school. In many ways, it’s a second home.
It’s hard to put the full impact of Chris’s work at ABC15 into words. Early on in his station career, he owned our coverage of the now infamous Baseline Killer and Serial Street Shooter stories. He launched the weekend edition of ABC15 Mornings, helped build the ABC15 Live Desk and broke countless national-level stories including the 2016 Loretta Lynch tarmac meeting with President Clinton. If you ask Chris his secret to breaking stories, he’ll tell you it’s all about sources and relationships. It’s a legacy we can all learn from and will candidly continue to take full advantage of until his departure.
Christopher will be on our air until Friday, September 29. He’ll then wrap up his time at the station behind the scenes before leaving ABC15 in early October. I know this departure will have implications for our ABC15 Mornings team. We’ll meet as a group in the coming days to navigate the path forward.
Thank you all, and thankyou Christopher!
Chris
Chris Kline | News Director
