Michelle Wright, the longest-tenured morning news anchor in the Pittsburgh TV market, will retire from WTAE following the Feb. 27 broadcast.
“I’ve been thinking about it for a while,” said Wright, who is leaving by her choice well before the expiration of her current contract. “I approached [Channel 4 news director] Baylor [Long] months ago and just said I was thinking about it, and he was in shock, I think, and they kept putting me off hoping I would change my mind. It is a hard decision because I do really, honestly love working at Channel 4.”
Wright, who is 60, said she’s choosing to exit because she can.
“I am able to afford to retire, and I started looking at that and thinking maybe it’s time to spend more time with my kids,” Wright said. “Both of my parents passed in the past few years – my dad passed in February – and I’m reorganizing my priorities and just looking at what I need to do.”
Wright’s son lives in California and her daughter lives in Virginia, and she’d like more flexibility to visit them, but she plans to keep living in Western Pennsylvania.
“One hundred percent I’m going to travel for sure,” Wright said. “I’m going to work in my garden and I already volunteer at LAMP, which is an accessible library in Oakland that’s part of the Carnegie Library, so I do plan to get more involved with LAMP. I’m a beekeeper, that’s my hobby, so I plan to do more beekeeping.”
Long praised Wright’s professionalism and her ability “to attack the challenge of the day and make it into seamless TV coverage.”
“One thing viewers don’t get to see is just how much of a mentor she is to so many journalists in Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 newsroom,” Long shared. “It’s bittersweet to see her move on, but I know the legacy she leaves behind is the journalists she has coached and encouraged who are now making an impact every day in our newsroom.”
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A Lynchburg, Va., native, Wright joined WTAE in 1994 as the station’s weekday morning news anchor before anchoring mornings alongside Mike Clark. At one point, Wright anchored at 5 p.m. with Scott Baker, but she spent the majority of her 30-plus years at the station on the morning shift, which she prefers.
“I love the mornings,” Wright said. “It works with my schedule. When my kids were little, I’d be home when they got off the bus and it was really fabulous.”
Currently Wright is part of a three-anchor morning news team alongside Janelle Hall and Ryan Recker. Long said the intent is to replace Wright in the mornings.
“Having three anchors has been great,” Wright said. “It makes the show more interesting and it’s also great for vacation time. Because all of us have so much seniority, we have a lot of vacation time and when one person is on vacation, it’s pretty seamless. Nobody is scrambling around and upending schedules to find someone to fill in, so I think all of us on the show really enjoy having three anchors, not only for the show and the look of the show, but for time off.”
Among the stories she’s covered, Wright said the most memorable, alongside the crash of United Flight 93 on 9/11 in Somerset County, was the 2002 rescue of the Quecreek miners.
“Being there and being a part of that and having all the community around as we’re watching the people above ground working nonstop, not knowing if [the miners] were alive,” Wright said.
Although she’s had the opportunity to interview celebrities, including Oprah Winfrey, Wright said it’s the everyday people of Pittsburgh who made the biggest impression on her.
“I’ve been so blessed when I think about all the opportunities I’ve had to have an up front seat to whatever is going on and be there in a moment in someone’s life that is important to that person,” Wright said. “To be there to witness that moment, whether it’s something celebratory or tragic, and then leave and try to share that information, it’s really special. … Looking back, that’s all I can say is how grateful I am to have the opportunity. And Pittsburgh is so great, once I got here, I never looked for another job anywhere else. I really felt so comfortable here. It’s the perfect city.”
Channel surfing
Amazon’s Prime Video won’t renew “Hotel Costiera” for a second season, per Deadline.com. … Cable/satellite substitute YouTube TV says it will begin offering 10 less expensive, genre-specific mini-bundles (sports, news, kids and family) in 2026, though pricing and a launch date were not announced.