
Elicia Dover, a founding co-anchor of “Good Afternoon Arkansas” on KATV, Channel 7, is leaving the station 10 years after she started there, she announced on social media.
“Aug. 31 will be my last day,” she wrote. “I want more time with my kids. Being a journalist in my hometown has been my greatest dream come true.”
A Bryant High School and University of Nebraska graduate, Dover was a breaking news producer for ABC based in New York before coming home. She and weatherman Barry Brandt were the on-air team when “Good Afternoon Arkansas” made its debut in 2017. It was the Little Rock market’s first local news, talk and lifestyle show in midafternoon. The 3 p.m. program premiered on Sept. 5, 2017.
“Launching Good Afternoon Arkansas is a fun legacy to leave behind,” she wrote.
In a 2017 interview, she told Arkansas Business that she logged “thousands upon thousands” of miles covering stories like Hurricane Sandy, the 2012 presidential campaign, the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre and the Boston Marathon bombing.
“I’d been running around the country but I was tired of that,” she said, describing her desire to return to Arkansas.
The “Good Afternoon Arkansas” role appealed to her after years of covering disasters and violence.
“I deeply care about reporting the news and providing important content,” Dover said. “But there’s also a side of me who loves to cook and keep a garden and decorate for every holiday. We’re going to do those kinds of stories, along with useful segments on beauty regimens or products you see in the drugstore. Magnetic eyelashes? I’ll try them out, take them to the eye doctor to see if they’re safe. The show will strike a balance.”
Dover said her move back to Arkansas was a turning point in her life. She met her husband, Jeremy, and moved to Sherwood, his hometown, and started a family.
A son, Eli, was born in 2018; baby brother Lawson Alexander came along on June 20.