Communiqué
Cincinnati Morning TV Anchor Sheila Gray got her strong work ethic from WOUB
< < Back toGray graduated from Ohio University in 1986
ATHENS, OH – Growing up in Sidney, Ohio, Sheila Gray knew she wanted her career to be in television, but she wasn’t sure exactly what she wanted to do.
“Ohio University had a great reputation for communications. It was the first college I visited when I started looking, and I absolutely fell in love,” said Gray. “I never even looked at another school.”
Gray started working at WOUB during her freshman year. She started in radio news and worked the early morning shift on Saturdays.
“The professional staff at WOUB expected you to do it and do it well,” said Gray. “I learned to be responsible and show up on time. WOUB helped me develop a strong work ethic.”
Fred Kight, who is now retired, was the assistant news director at the time. Gray believes Kight taught her one of the most important skills she learned at WOUB. It’s a skill she uses every day.
“Fred helped me learn how to write for broadcast news,” said Gray. “He was passionate about what he did and teaching students. I credit a lot of my broadcast news writing skills to the lessons Fred taught me.”
Gray did a lot of radio work during her time at WOUB. She volunteered in the newsroom and helped with radio programming. During her senior year, Gray anchored and reported for NewsWatch on WOUB TV.
“My first job was in radio in Charleston, West Virginia,” said Gray. “I was a radio traffic reporter. After about a year there, I was offered a position at one of the nearby TV stations – WOWK. I started as a weekend producer and got to report a couple of days a week.”
Gray was promoted to a full-time reporter position in the Charleston bureau. It wasn’t long before she was noticed because of that strong work ethic she developed at WOUB.
“Another TV station in the market, WSAZ, noticed how hard I was working and hired me away,” said Gray.
Gray eventually became a 6 and 11 p.m. news anchor at WSAZ and worked there until 1999. Then, she left for a morning anchor position at WXIX in Cincinnati, Ohio.
“I worked at WXIX until 2013 and then moved to Dayton for a reporting position. But I came back to another morning anchor position at WKRC Local 12 in Cincinnati where I have been ever since,” said Gray.
Gray says her career was built on the solid foundation she got while doing the news for the people of southeast Ohio and gaining the hands-on experience at WOUB.
“WOUB is an actual newsroom with an actual news operation and responsibility to an audience,” said Gray. “At WOUB, we put on a newscast every day. We had deadlines. We had to work as team. While many of us were not paid in dollars, we were paid in experience. And that was tremendously valuable.”