Following the departure of news anchor Joe Arena, WPXI-TV reporter Alyssa Raymond will take over as Channel 11’s weekend morning anchor effective this weekend.

A 2007 Moon Area High School grad, Raymond joined WPXI in 2020 and has been a general assignment reporter weekday mornings as well as a fill-in anchor (including weekend mornings), backup traffic anchor and breaking news desk anchor.

Raymond, a 2011 graduate of Syracuse University, was a weekend morning and noon anchor at WTHR-TV in Indianapolis prior to joining Channel 11.

Prior to Indianapolis she freelanced as a reporter at WTAE-TV in 2017 following a stint as a multimedia journalist — one who not only reports but operates her own camera — at WKYC-TV in Cleveland.

“They wanted me to re-sign (a new contract in Cleveland),” Raymond said, “but the grind of being an MMJ was taking a toll on me.”

She also had a stint at KTHV-TV in Little Rock, Ark., and got her start at TV3, a tiny station in Winchester, Va., that was a digital subchannel of the ABC affiliate in Harrisonburg, Va.

“They shut the TV station down while I was working there. Effective immediately, right before Christmas,” Raymond said, laughing at the absurdity now. “I thought, ‘Wow, this is a great taste of the business.’”

At a station that small, Raymond did everything: report, shoot video and anchor.

“I was forwarding newsroom calls to my cellphone to go out and shoot Friday night football and then I’d have to produce the (late news) show,” she recalled.

In addition to her new role as weekend morning news anchor, Raymond will report Wednesday through Friday for WPXI’s 12, 4, 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts. But that may be inconsistent because she’ll also fill in as a weekday anchor, including on the noon newscast the next few weeks. She also has some vacation time coming up that will take her away from her new weekend morning anchor role.

Raymond said she liked Indianapolis but it was tough being away from family during the early days of the pandemic.

“People say it’s a dream to get home but I just never knew if the profession would align itself to get me home,” Raymond said. “The stars aligned.”

Raymond said she’s excited to work alongside weekend morning meteorologist Jessica Faith.

“I think we have great chemistry because we also have a friendship off the air,” Raymond said. “Since it’s weekend mornings, I think there’s an opportunity to bring a little more positive news into the mix.”

In Indianapolis, Raymond started a segment called “A Ray of Sunshine” — A Ray, using her first initial and part of her last name.

“I would feature super-positive people in the community,” Raymond said. “I’m hoping to eventually bring that into weekend mornings. A lot of people say, ‘Sorry, I don’t watch the news because it’s so negative,’ and it has been very negative lately so I think we can all use something to make us smile.”

MORE TV NEWS

• KDKA reporter leaving Pittsburgh for Denver • TV Talk: New faces to appear on Pittsburgh newscasts in July • TV Talk: WPXI hires Stephanie Allison as 4th meteorologist • TV Talk: Joe Arena to depart WPXI-TV

Pittsburgh native leaves on-air ‘Jeopardy!’ role

Jimmy McGuire, a 1984 graduate of Allderdice High School in Squirrel Hill who has been part of the “Jeopardy!” Clue Crew for 21 years, posted to his Facebook account that Thursday’s broadcast (7:30 p.m., WPXI-TV) marked his final appearance on the game show.

But McGuire will still be working on “Jeopardy!” behind the scenes, running rehearsal games, wrangling celebrities for ABC’s upcoming “Celebrity Jeopardy!” in prime time and serving as the show’s stage manager.

“The ‘Clue Crew’ has officially been put to bed,” McGuire said by phone from Los Angeles Thursday afternoon. “It’s been great and I have nothing but wonderful things to say about the show. I’m just so proud of Pittsburgh and so glad I got to do some many categories there.”

As a member of the Clue Crew, McGuire appeared in clues on “Jeopardy!” taped all over the country, including some from Pittsburgh. His final appearance was from a clue taped at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“I’m gonna keep hustling and I still have so many other things I want to do on-camera, this is just a transition – 21 years doing what I did is unheard of,” McGuire said.

Kept/canceled

Paramount+ renewed “Evil” for a fourth season.

Bravo canceled “Million Dollar Listing New York” after nine seasons.

Adult Swim canceled “Joe Pera Talks With You” after three seasons.

Channel surfing

“Unprecedented,” filmmaker Alex Holder’s three-part docuseries that includes interviews with President Trump and his family, premieres Sundayon streaming service discovery+. Holder recently testified before the U.S. Congress’ Jan. 6 committee. … “Daredevil” stars Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio will reprise their roles as Daredevil and The Kingpin in upcoming Disney+ Marvel series “Echo.”

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