So, everyone’s asking: what’s in the water at WNEP? Why does it seem like newscasters are streaming out the doors? It’s not just you—viewers and business-watchers alike have noticed headlines stacking up. A bunch of familiar faces—anchors, meteorologists, reporters—have quietly but steadily exited northeastern Pennsylvania’s best-known local TV station over the past couple of years.
Should you sound the corporate-dysfunction klaxon? Grab the popcorn and wait for drama? The short answer: probably not. Here’s why.
Pandemic Pause: When Everyone Rethinks Everything
If your LinkedIn feed looks anything like mine, you’re no stranger to the career reshuffle of the early 2020s. Three words—pandemic, reflection, reset. Turns out, media folks are people too.
Take Ryan Leckey, a sunrise TV spark plug at WNEP for nearly two decades. He was Mr. Reliable on morning segments, known for energy levels that could power a small city. Then 2022 rolls around, and suddenly, he’s out. Trolls and fans speculated (as they do). But per Leckey himself? The pandemic lit a fire for change.
He told viewers he had what he called a “grand awakening.” No scandal, no beef with bosses, no snarky exit interviews. WNEP actually tried to keep him—proof, if you needed it, that there wasn’t a “get out while you can” memo making the rounds.
Bottom line? Leckey felt the clock ticking. He wanted to try something new while he still had the nerve… and the hairline. (His joke, not mine.)
The Cascade: Why High-Performers Move On
Here’s where the dominoes start to look familiar if you’ve watched any big shop or creative hub. Journalism—especially local TV—isn’t a stick-around-forever business anymore. The “anchor until retirement” mold is the exception, not the rule.
Zoom out: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics pegs average job tenure at 4.1 years in 2022, below pre-pandemic levels. TV news? Think faster churn. Reporters bounce for promotions, bigger markets, or—sometimes—the sweet escape from 3 a.m. alarm clocks. (Glamorous, right?)
Lisa Washington is basically the case study here. In late 2023, she signed off from WNEP for a morning anchor gig at WCNC in Charlotte, North Carolina. The move? Standard-issue in broadcast journalism. Charlotte’s a bigger city, bigger audience, better weather—pick any or all. It’s not an indictment of WNEP; it’s just career math.
The punchline: When you climb the TV news ladder, your best shot at growth is lateral—switch codes, switch logos, chase responsibility. Think NBA free agency, minus the shoe deals. If Lisa stayed, you’d almost wonder why.
No Big Blowups, Just Personal Pivots
Maybe you’re waiting for the gotcha. Did someone crack open the HR vault? Did WNEP’s culture suddenly turn toxic? All evidence says… not so much.
Tom Williams, a co-anchor who logged nearly 30 years at the station, put it best in his own departure note: WNEP was his “dream job.” But dreams change. After almost three decades of early mornings, he decided it was time to focus on community involvement in other ways. Retirement? Not quite. More like—call it a professional remix.
Here’s what you won’t find in Williams’ exit statements: hints of company drama, “creative differences,” or coded digs at management. Instead, he issued a straightforward thank-you to viewers, a warm nod to the newsroom crew, and a promise to keep serving the public—just on a different channel, so to speak.
The catch: He’s not the only veteran to make a gentle off-ramp. Reporters, producers, and staffers across the TV news universe have jumped (not been pushed) in similar style since 2021. Who can blame them? “Great resignation” or not, newsrooms are seeing what every industry is seeing—priorities shifting, goals evolving.
Where’s the Smoke, Where’s the Fire?
Okay, but isn’t it weird for so many familiar faces to leave in such a tight window? That’s always the worry—what aren’t they saying?
Broadly? Not much is hiding. There’s no string of lawsuits, no mass layoffs, no Glassdoor bonfire. In fact, WNEP has weathered cutbacks better than a lot of its local-news cousins, per trade press and industry surveys. Factor in media economics—a shrinking pie, thanks to cord-cutting and digital ads—and WNEP’s stability looks more like an outlier than a cautionary tale.
The” exodus” narrative only works if departures link back to some festering problem. But what we actually see here is a pileup of personal crossroads—timed close together, sure, but cleanly separated by reason and role.
Let’s be real: If your team’s roster cycles coincided with two years of world-upending weirdness, you’d expect turnover too. Lump a couple of big names together, and suddenly it’s an epidemic—but the details don’t line up for scandal.
The Great (Local News) Reshuffle
Here’s what industry trends say: The TV news reshuffle isn’t a WNEP problem, it’s a post-pandemic reality. Remember the “You only live once” memes doing numbers in 2021? TV anchors got the memo too.
Nationally, TV newsrooms have seen a 10-15% bump in voluntary exits since 2021, per the RTDNA newsroom survey. Why? Everything from burnout to better pay elsewhere to—get this—actually spending time with family at normal hours. Turns out, reading news at 5 a.m. is not the pinnacle of work-life balance.
Add to that the fact that the median reporter age is now under 37, and you get a restless, mobile workforce with one eye always on opportunity. And don’t forget newsroom burnout: News cycles haven’t exactly gotten slower or more forgiving. If ever there was a time to grab the parachute and leap, it’s been now.
WNEP’s sequence just mirrors the national pattern: longtimers, morning people, and high-profile names all reevaluating. Some chase promotions, others peace of mind. You can almost set your smartwatch to it.
What’s Next for WNEP? And Yes, Who’s Still There?
Worried about WNEP’s local legacy? Don’t hit the panic button. The station remains a ratings powerhouse in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre DMA (that’s Designated Market Area, for non-TV folks). Its “Newswatch 16” brand—and, yes, that rotating cast of community reporters—still pulls loyal viewers and strong ad dollars.
Like any business losing veterans, there’s a knowledge gap to close. New faces mean a little less history, a little more fresh perspective. Will every viewer love the changes? Hardly. But the churn is survivable, even energizing—if you think like a manager bringing in new draft picks.
Rumors of collapse tend to sell more social shares than the steady beat of status quo. So if you hear that “everyone” is leaving… maybe “everyone” just wanted something different this year.
Meanwhile, if you want a close-up on how digital disruption and career pivots meet, check out analysis pieces over at Connective Magazine. It’s not just TV grappling with change; it’s every corner of media. The churn is now part of the job. Adapt or—well, you get it.
Why All the Fuss? Because Change Feels Personal
If you’ve tuned in every day for the last ten years, seeing a familiar anchor walk away stings. Local TV isn’t Wall Street—people get attached to personalities, habits, routines. That’s the magic and the trap.
So when three or four high-profile exits stack up, it triggers some hand-wringing. Audiences hate feeling left behind. They wonder what’s wrong with the operation. The truth is usually less exciting—a changing of the guard, high-performing professionals in a restless industry, and plain old timing.
If it all feels confusing, that’s because it is. TV news thrives on trust and routine, so staff shakeups are hard to miss. But as long as a station’s newscast keeps landing punches—and the meteorologist doesn’t guess snow in July—the underlying brand remains strong.
Bottom Line? Less Drama, More Human Nature
Everyone leaving WNEP? It only looks like mass desertion from outside. Peek behind the curtain, and you’ll see the same churn, burnout, and pandemic-fueled life resets reshaping every industry since 2020.
A handful of beloved anchors and reporters looked up, saw new paths, and decided to walk them—no torches, no pitchforks, no PR air war. If that’s scandal, then so is your buddy swapping jobs after a dozen years.
WNEP continues to post market-leading numbers; viewers keep coming back. Change is hard, but not every staff shift writes a station’s obituary. If someone tells you it’s a meltdown, you’ve got permission to roll your eyes—just check your TV listings first.
Industry secret? In local news, the only thing that never changes… is that everything changes.
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