By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Wednesday, April 1, 2015
CBS46 has named Denver reporter and anchor Gloria Neal as a new morning anchor from 4:30 a.m. to 7 a.m. She leaves Denver in mid May and starts in Atlanta June 1.
She replaces morning anchor Michelle Burdo, who recently decided to raise her child instead of go back to work.
Neal has been a big personality in Denver.
She worked at CBS4 there for seven years. Her news director Tim Wieland there wrote:
"Back in 2008, I asked Gloria Neal if she might be interested in doing a daily segment for CBS4 Morning News on some of the stories surrounding the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Three or four weeks only. An "experiment" to see how she liked working on morning television. Three or four weeks turned into eight years at CBS4 – a wonderful "experiment" that led to so many memorable interviews, stories and news segments."
She was radio news anchor at Newsradio 850 KOA for many years. She followed that gig up as a morning host at a couple of Denver FM stations. She then hosted a progressive talk show in Denver until the format was dumped a year ago.
Her biography says she does stand-up comedy as well.
She told the Denver Post yesterday: "Man plans and God laughs." She was "stunned when they called me. I love Colorado, it's going to be so hard … (leaving) but it's also a great opportunity. (Atlanta) is a huge market. I've been here many times."
CBS46 management, she told the Post, wants “a morning show anchor in the way that I want to anchor news, which is not the traditional way.” She calls it “the opportunity of a lifetime.”
Neal has been very active in the Denver community, working with the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, the black journalists association, the American Red Cross, the Rose Andom Center for Domestic Violence and the National Kidney Foundation.
It's been a busy week for CBS46. Management signed veteran evening anchor Stephany Fisher to a new contract. Fred Kalil started last week as a new sports anchor. And sports director Larry Smith is leaving for D.C.
Here's a sampling of some of Neal's work that I found online:
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