This was posted Wednesday, December 7, 2016 by Rodney Ho on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Amanda Davis, the long-time Fox 5 anchor, has found a new home at CBS46 as a new morning show anchor, replacing recently departed Gloria Neal.
Davis' first day is January 2, 2017. She'll join co-anchor Bobby Kaple; meteorologists Paul Ossmann and Jennifer Valdez; and traffic reporter Julie Smith. (Ossmann used to work with Davis at WAGA-TV.)
Here's a promo video CBS46 posted on Thursday with Davis and Ossmann together.
Neal left last month several months before her two-year contract was up. She never said why she left.
Davis spent 26 years at WAGA-TV, both when it was a CBS affiliate and now Fox affiliate. She was one of the most popular anchors in town and was an anchor on "Good Day Atlanta." But after a drunk driving arrest in 2012, she was taken off air, then let go permanently a few months later with an awkward on-air goodbye.
Although she was found not guilty in the end, she remained off the airwaves until last year.
CBS46 hired her to be part of its "Just a Minute" commentators consisting mostly of former journalists. For her, it was a way back to get in the game.
But on the weekend before her debut commentary, she was arrested yet again for another DUI. She asked to be taken off the schedule and proceeded to get treatment. She later received probation.
Earlier this year, she did a three-day series about her alcoholism, something she had never admitted publicly before. "I have no excuse for drinking and getting behind the wheel," Davis said, referencing the 2012 incident. "I was wrong… There is no forgiving that." Over the series, she talked about her denial, her shame, her faith, her sobriety and the challenges of addiction.
On this blog entry, I polled people to see if they wanted her back as an anchor. Nearly four out of five said yes.
I saw her last week at the Atlanta Press Club Hall of Fame dinner supporting inductee and her former boss Budd McEntee but didn't get a chance to speak to her.
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