Jacksonville, FL: She is the news anchor, and he is the meteorologist that viewers have turned to for more than 30 years. John Gaughan and Mary Baer announced they are retiring May 31, 2023.
“The impact John and Mary have left on this community for the last three decades has been immeasurable,” said Vice President and General Manager Terri Cope Walton. “They have been part of the fabric of North Florida and South Georgia and helped to lay the foundation for excellence and commitment to community that The Local Station is committed to providing. They will truly be missed by the entire News4JAX family.”
Mary came to Jacksonville in 1992, after working as a news anchor and reporter in Columbus, Ohio. She started her television career as an anchor and reporter at KTVL in her hometown of Medford, Oregon. Mary is a graduate of the University of Oregon's School of Journalism. As co-anchor of News4JAX with Tom Wills each weeknight, she is active in news gathering, handling interviews, representing the station in the community, and emceeing a number of charitable events in the Jacksonville area.
“After 30 years, anchoring and reporting the news on Channel 4, I am so grateful for the chance to live out a dream: telling the stories of so many in our community and beyond. Thank you to all of you who welcomed me into your home each night, and those who allowed me the honor of sharing your stories. It's been a privilege. I am eager to begin a new chapter of my life, spending more time with my husband and our family, traveling, riding my horse, and working with the therapeutic riding program I helped start on our farm. You could say, I'll be riding off into the sunset! But I will always treasure the time I've had on 4,” said Baer.
John Gaughan attended the University of Maryland and during the school year worked as a weather graphics producer at WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. The experience was enough for John to land his first on-air job as chief meteorologist at WOLO television in Columbia, South Carolina. He then applied for and received the AMS seal of approval in 1987. John later took on a position as chief meteorologist at another Jacksonville television station before joining WFTV in Orlando, Florida, as the only meteorologist on staff. He was the main on-air weather anchor as Hurricane Andrew first turned towards Florida and then towards Miami in 1992. During the 48 hours that Andrew approached, John did nearly thirty weather cut ins and newscasts. John joined the WJXT weather team in late 1992.
“I’m so thankful for a 40-year career in broadcast meteorology, and thirty plus years at one of the great local television stations of all time, the Graham Media Group owned station, WJXT-TV,” said Gaughan. “I was so fortunate to work in the Great State of Florida, and in the Bold City of Jacksonville. Laurie, my wife of 37 years, and I raised two amazing daughters here. One is doing her residency as a surgeon in Wake Forest, North Carolina, and the other living her best life in Boulder, Colorado.”
News4JAX will be celebrating 30 years with Mary and John in May.
About WJXT Channel 4
WJXT Channel 4 and News4JAX.com provides news, information and entertainment to the Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia region. As the market leader, The Local Station is committed to bringing quality news and programming to the local community it serves. The station is owned by The Graham Holdings Company (NYSE: GHC) and is one of seven Graham Media Group stations along with WCWJ Jacksonville, WKMG Orlando, WSLS Roanoke, KPRC Houston, KSAT San Antonio and WDIV Detroit.
About Graham Media Group
Graham Media Group is comprised of seven local media hubs, Graham Digital and Social News Desk delivering local news, programming, advertising solutions and digital media tools for television, online, mobile, OTT, podcasts and audio devices. We are dynamic, local brands that extend well beyond the traditional TV set. Our work helps inform, celebrate and knit together the communities we serve.
GMG operates in six states: KPRC–Houston, WDIV–Detroit and WSLS–Roanoke (NBC); KSAT–San Antonio (ABC); WKMG–Orlando (CBS); WJXT–Jacksonville (fully local), and WCWJ–Jacksonville (CW). Based in Detroit, Graham Digital is a digital media and technology development group widely recognized as a leading industry innovator. Social News Desk, headquartered in Atlanta, provides its 2500+ worldwide newsroom-customers with a single dashboard to publish, measure, curate and monetize local news content on social platforms. Website: https://www.grahammedia.com/
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