Atlanta media briefs: Kelly Crull’s departure; Valdez, Dorsey swap
Kelly Crull has left sports-talk radio station 93.7/680 The Fan for a job with the New Orleans Pelicans.
Crull, a former on-the-field reporter covering the Atlanta Braves, had multiple jobs at the Fan. She co-hosted a show with Buck Belue, made regular appearances on the morning show and hosted her own podcast “Crull Me Maybe.”
“I did not go looking for another job,” Crull said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last week before she left for New Orleans. “They came to me. I love the people at the Fan, but this is one of those opportunities too unique to pass up.”
For the Pelicans, Crull will host pregame, halftime and postgame shows. She will also travel with the team to road games.
Her shows will air on Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network, a joint partnership venture between Atlanta-based Gray Media and the Pelicans. She will be employed by the Pelicans, which she said gives her more job security.
Basketball, she said, was her jam growing up in Indiana. And she spent the early 2010s covering the Oklahoma City Thunder.
She will also help out with coverage of the New Orleans Saints, but that won’t take up most of her time.
Crull plans to maintain a home in Atlanta while renting a furnished apartment in New Orleans
“I love it here,” she said. During her offseason, she will do side jobs covering college football; Intennse, the new tennis league out of Assembly Studios in Doraville; and hopefully, the Atlanta Braves on Braves Vision. (She was part of the former regional sports network Bally Sports in 2021 when the Braves last won the World Series.)
“I’d also love to contribute to the Fan if the timing is right,” she said.
Belue, who has been with the Fan since 2000, said he enjoyed working with her: “It was fun while it lasted. I was just relieved she wasn’t leaving because of me.”
Her work hours at the Fan, Crull admitted, weren’t ideal. She often had to do a split schedule, working mornings and evenings while napping during the day.
But her time at the sports talk station enabled her to spout hot takes on all sorts of topics on the fly.
“I got better at debate,” she said. “I learned not to be afraid to go after one of the guys even in good fun. And I could throw in the female angle and give that perspective.”
Meteorologist time swap at Atlanta News First
Atlanta News First meteorologists Jennifer Valdez and Ella Dorsey have swapped time slots.
Valdez, who has been chief meteorologist at the station since 2019, returns to mornings, where she worked for about a decade, while Dorsey is now handling evening hours.
Dorsey, who joined what was then CBS46 in 2016 before it transitioned to an independent station last year, has worked mornings for the past six years but didn’t enjoy waking up so early.
“I had been struggling with the schedule for years, and now am thinking about a family so that feeling was compounded,” Dorsey told the AJC on Sunday. “Having a glass of wine right now watching football with no impending Monday morning alarm is the craziest feeling of all time. I’m so thankful that my bosses listened and worked with me.”
Valdez said she was happy to go back to mornings.
“Ella loves working nights (and it’s been hard on me with lots of mom guilt for missing so much),” said Valdez in a text. “I love mornings. It’s a much easier adjustment for me than working nights, so it works out perfectly for both of us.”
New ‘Good Day Atlanta’ host
Justina Latimer has joined “Good Day Atlanta,” in part filling Natalie McCann’s slot.
McCann left in June after a decade at Fox 5 as an anchor and reporter.
Latimer last worked at KPRC, an NBC affiliate in Houston. According to the Houston Chronicle, she joined KPRC in April 2023 but left after 17 months with no public explanation.
At “Good Day Atlanta,” she handles three duties.
Latimer is an anchor from 4:30 to 6 a.m., provides traffic updates between 6 and 9 a.m., then co-hosts the 10 a.m. hour of “Good Day Atlanta.”
With the recent end of the syndicated talk show “The Sherri Shepherd Show,” Fox 5 recently added an 11 a.m. newscast. This means Fox 5 is now running news continuously from 4:30 a.m. until 1 p.m.