Page 20 - South Mississippi Living - May, 2021

COAST NOTE
BEHIND THE
story and photos by
Charles Steinruck
The Mississippi Gulf Coast is known for its into the local news of Harrison, Jackson, smart growth, vast business opportunities, and and Stone counties,” said Sullivan. “We
Scenes
diverse cultural experiences. For those reasons, Gulfport’s own WXXV debuted their News 25 newscast in September of 2013. Today, General Manager Bobby Edwards and News Director Joe Sullivan are proud to announce the completion of the new studio setup.
The news team is really getting into the new environment and say that it is a big upgrade from the virtual studio. Meteorologist Ryan Mahan says, “It’s a big change. We went from a big green curtain around the room to an actual set. People can wear green to work again!”
The team can agree that it is taking some “getting used to,” but the new setup certainly allows for more maneuverability. “When we rst launched our news team, I wanted them to have everything ‘top of the line’ so we could give our community the quality local news they deserved, and that still hasn’t changed with our new setup today,” says Edwards.
Sullivan con rms they are doing exactly as they intended. “WXXV News 25 gets deep
want to provide local news that can give back to the community. For example, on Mondays we recognize locally adopted children and highlight that experience.”
Back in 2015, News 25 was only doing 90 minutes of news at the time. They are now up to seven hours a day. “In 2015, we launched Weekday Morning News on Fox and NBC and Weekend News on Fox and NBC. In 2016,
we grew to include News 25 at Noon on NBC and expanded the 9 p.m. News on Fox to one hour. In 2017, WXXV launched News 25 at 5 p.m. on FOX,” stated Sullivan.
WXXV will continue to produce only the best for their community and viewers, and you can count on future expansions to help make that possible. “We rea rm that we are committed to providing the best news product possible every day,” Edwards said of the expansion. “Our priority remains providing
a strong local news product that serves our viewers and communities. We are Your Local Choice.”
TOP PICTURE, left to right: Je Haeger (Sports Director), Rob Knight (Chief Meteorologist), Joe Sullivan (News Director), Grant Chighizola (Reporter), Taylor Rubach (Anchor/ Reporter), Jaylon Morris (Anchor/Reporter), Ashleigh Fortenberry (Anchor/ Reporter), Brantly Keiek (Meteorologist), Ryan Mahan (Meteorologist)
20 | May 2021
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