Moving from Sports to News
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NBC affiliates and sister MaineTV stations WCSH 6 in Portland and WLBZ 2 in Bangor are making changes to their sports staffs.
Jessica Gagne, the weekend Sports Anchor at WLBZ will move over to anchoring news at WCHS and Johnny Mehler will take over her sports gig next month.
Gagne will be the early morning weekend news anchor at WCSH and will be a reporter the rest of the week.
Mehler will handle weekend sports at WCSH while sports director Lee Goldberg will continue to anchor during the week.
Gagne said WCSH 6/WLBZ 2 news director Mike Redding asked her to fill in as the morning weekend news anchor for Jackie Ward, who moved to California, and it led to her being offered the job permanently.
She said she will miss sports but will still get to develop sports stories.
“This will be another tool for my toolbox. This will be another thing to have on my resume and allow me the opportunity to grow as a news person,” said the 28-year-old Biddeford native.
“I talked to Lee about it extensively because I had worked so hard to get into sports and I didn’t want this to close a door,” said Gagne, a Northeastern University graduate. “Lee has been a wonderful mentor and told me this wasn’t closing a door, it was a new adventure and will open up doors for me.”
“Jessica is a rock star and this shows her diversity,” said Goldberg. “I’m going to miss her but this is a good opportunity for her.”
