By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Monday, April 11, 2016
11 Alive's Jeff Hullinger has been officially named primary co-anchor with Brenda Wood during the 5, 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts. He will continue to co-anchor with Melissa Long at 10 p.m. on sister station WATL as well.
“I am grateful and excited to be part of the 11Alive team. I love connecting with our viewers and being part of the community. This is my home,” said Hullinger in a press release.
"Like with any opening, we always consider both in-house candidates and those new to our company," said GM John Deushane. "After a five-month search, it became even more obvious that the best person for this important role was already sitting in the chair."
Hullinger joined 11 Alive in 2010 soon after I wrote this story wondering why he wasn't working.
He first joined the NBC affiliate as a reporter, then began anchoring in February, 2011. He expanded his role as sports anchor in 2014. Since December, he has been filling in as fill-in co-anchor with Wood after DeMarco Morgan left for CBS News.
Prior to WXIA-TV, Hullinger had been a long-time Fox 5 sports anchor and Falcons play by play until 2002, worked out of town and then did radio news anchoring on News 95.5 and AM 750 WSB. For a time, he was seemingly blocked from TV news here until Ellen Crooke at 11 Alive took a chance on him six years ago. But he has made quite the comeback.
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