When WFXL made Romney Smith its main anchor this month, she became the first African-American anchor in Albany, GA (market #145).

Smith joined WFXL in 2009 and had been working as a reporter for the Fox-affiliate, which is one of two local news stations in Albany.

“Taking the job made me happy and sad,” Smith told the Albany Herald. “I was extremely happy about getting this promotion during Black History Month because I was kind of shocked it had never happened before. My frame of reference was always large metro areas that had black and Hispanic anchors.”

Smith was raised in Marietta, GA and earned her master’s degree in journalism from the University of Maryland.

“I look at being the first black main news anchor in Albany as a personal responsibility,” she said. “I want to be the best reporter and news anchor I can be, but I also want to be a good role model, specifically for young black women.”

During last year’s November sweeps period, Smith did a popular two-part series titled “Behind Bars” in which she went through the process of being locked up to show what life is like in prison (video below).