Maternity leave, meet maternity wave.
Three newsroom pros at KATV are pregnant, and another just gave birth, leaving News Director Nick Genty to shuffle his lineup and wonder if something’s in the water.
Weekend anchor Janelle Lilley brought Luke Ender Cline into the world on April 21 (8 pounds, 4 ounces). Proud papa is the versatile Jason Cline, the yoga-teaching former communications staffer who goes to law school while somehow keeping up with officerhood in the Army National Guard. Latest title? First-time dad.
Congrats to @KATVJanelle and Jason. Luke Ender Cline has arrived. 8lbs. 4 oz. 19.5 inches! Welcome to the newest member of the @KATVNews family! pic.twitter.com/EpF4qwMJwX
— KATV News (@KATVNews) April 21, 2018
Beth Hunt, the popular evening anchor and Bison from Carlisle High School, is due to deliver her third child in June. Dad is Brian Cress, a North Little Rock Shelter Insurance agent.
Hunt says she’s basically another working mother. “People view my job as very glamorous,” she told Little Rock Family a few years ago. “But I do my own hair and makeup. I pack lunch for my child and work out of a cubicle. When it comes down to it, I’m a wife and a mom who just happens to be on TV.”
Overnight producer Kristen Belue and husband, David, are expecting their first child, also in June. Elicia Dover, the Bryant native who co-hosts “Good Afternoon Arkansas,” is last in line, due for her firstborn in September.
In her previous job as an ABC News producer, Dover was always a plane ride from the next breaking story, from Hurricane Sandy to Sandy Hook. But she longed for home, and Genty welcomed her with open arms in 2013.
Just about nine months ago, Dover told Arkansas Business that her recently settled life in Sherwood, with husband, Jeremy Flynn, and her parents down the street, had been “like a Mayberry existence.” Papa Flynn is a former marketing manager for the Little Rock production firm Waymack & Crew who joined Verizon Arena as sales manager in 2016.
Genty said he doesn’t expect all the maternity leave to disrupt his team severely. “I’m blessed to have a strong bench of reporters that can all anchor shows,” Genty said. “I wouldn’t be afraid to let any one of them handle the anchoring duties if need be.” He said viewers should expect to see a mix of faces over the next few months.
Rusley Heads to Beaumont
One face you won’t be seeing on Channel 7 is Kimberly Rusley’s. A KATV reporter since September 2016, the Louisiana native and former Miss Bossier City will be a news anchor at KFDM in Beaumont, Texas.
The CBS affiliate is a sister station to KATV, owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. She’ll fill the main anchor position, Genty said.
IT’S OFFICIAL: My last day at @KATVNews is done ð” Thanks for the love and the stories! @KATVChrisMay, KATVBeth, @KATVNed, @KATVNICK pic.twitter.com/NB43aEFQRV
— Kimberly Rusley (@KATVKimberly) April 13, 2018
“IT’S OFFICIAL: My last day at @KATVNews is done,” Rusley posted April 20 on Twitter. “Thanks for the love and the stories!”
Rusley, who’s from Bossier City, got her start in Shreveport at KSLA, then worked across town as a multimedia journalist and reporter at KTAL. She also participated in pageants for several years and was Miss Black Louisiana 2008.
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