John Bachman's Channel 2 Action News colleagues sent the anchor off today with a heartfelt farewell video and a cooler packed with beach-related gear to acclimate him to the breezy, salt-air environs of Jacksonville, Fla.
Bachman spent seven years at WSB-TV and has anchored the 4 p.m. news program the past three. (His final anchoring gig with WSB will be the 6 p.m. news this evening.)
Cox Media Group, which runs WSB, recently began overseeing a duel CBS/Fox news operation in Jacksonville and the bosses asked Bachman to anchor the evening news there in an effort to boost its ratings.
He was flattered by the offer.
"They've already hired some great people and have improved the viewership," said Bachman in an interview at WSB studios on his final day there. "One reason I took the job was to be part of a good turnaround."
Bachman's beach bonafides, though, are limited. Surfer boy, he is not.
He grew up in Iowa, went to college in Minnesota, got his first job in South Dakota, then landed in Raleigh before coming to Atlanta.
"It's a beautiful city with a lovely river and port," he said, after visiting a couple of times already. "I plan to spend the next month immersing myself."
Better yet, Bachman added, "my nine-year-old daughter has already asked for a paddle board."
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
He said he had grown a lot while at WSB: "I got to sit next to Monica Pearson. Richard Belcher has been nearby for years. Listening to that man on the phone is an education in itself." He also extolled WSB's technology and resources.
Bachman said among his on-the-road highlights, he enjoyed traveling to China with Gov. Nathan Deal in 2011 and covering both the Iowa caucuses and the South Carolina Republican primary in 2012.
A Smyrna resident, he already has a lead on a home in Jacksonville to purchase, a sign he plans to stick around awhile.
His camera-ready looks are genetic. His father (also John Bachman ) was in the TV business for 35 years in the Midwest. "I grew up in the newsroom," he said. "Where else can a 12-year-old kid get to go a place at 10 p.m. at night and watch adults running around with their heads cut off?"
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
At first, he aimed to be a doctor and was pre-med at St. Olaf College in Minnesota. But his heart wasn't into it. His father got him an internship at a station based in Sioux Falls, S.D., where he worked for five years before landing a gig in Raleigh, N.C. in 2003. With a child on the way with his college sweetheart Jennifer, he started anchoring on weekends (where coincidentally, his fill in was Erin Coleman, his future anchor mate at WSB.)
WSB came calling in 2007, where he became the primary male backup anchor behind Justin Farmer. And when the 4 p.m. newscast anchor job opened up after Oprah Winfrey's talks how ended in 2011, he got it.
While Jacksonville is market No. 48 vs. Atlanta's No. 8, Bachman will become primary anchor at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. on WTEV-TV CBS 47 and the 10 p.m. news on WAWS-TV Fox 30.
During his second going-away gathering of the day at WSB studios, he told his colleagues, "Seven years have gone by so quickly. I kind of felt like I've been here my entire life. I'm going to miss you all."
Pearson stopped by at 5 p.m. right after his 4 p.m telecast, gave him a huge and teased, "Now I have a place to stay for the Georgia-Florida game!"
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Channel 2 Action News is part of Cox Media Group, which also operates the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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