DeMarco Morgan is joining WXIA, the NBC-affiliate in Atlanta, as co-anchor of the 6 p.m. weekday newscast.

For the past three years, Morgan has been a reporter at NBC owned-and-operated WNBC in New York City. He will start at WXIA in early January.

Morgan will co-anchor WXIA’s 6 p.m. newscast with Brenda Wood, who has been anchoring the program solo since Ted Hall moved to mornings in August. Morgan will also be reporting for the 11 p.m. newscast.

“DeMarco is a tenacious and aggressive reporter and an engaging and effective news anchor that makes it his mission to be involved with the community he serves,” WXIA vice president of news and information Ellen Crooke said in a statement.

Just a day after the announcement that Ted Hall would leave his post as 11 p.m. anchor for WXIA‘s morning show, the station said it has hired Bloomberg TV’s Melissa Long as part of an expansion effort across its evening newscasts.

Long, who worked in Atlanta as an anchor for CNN and HLN from 2005 to 2010, will co-anchor a re-branded 10 p.m. newscast with Jeff Hullinger.

“People want better, deeper content and at 11Alive, we are creating a culture to do just that,” said vice president of news Ellen Crooke.

WXIA’s 6 p.m and 11 p.m. anchor Brenda Wood will anchor the evening news solo going forward, the station said. Long and Hullinger will participate as contributors. The station is looking to add an additional anchor to their evening news team to co-anchor the 6 p.m. news with Wood.

Okay, now it’s official: Mike Francis has been named chief meteorologist at Atlanta’s WXIA.

Earlier this month, KARK, Francis’s now-former station, jumped the gun in announcing that the veteran meteorologist had landed a job in the #8 market. In reality, Francis’s agent was still finalizing the WXIA deal. But now the Gannett-owned NBC-affiliate has announced that Francis is indeed joining the station.

“Mike Francis is one of the most well respected and knowledgeable meteorologists in the country,” said WXIA VP of News Ellen Crooke, in announcing the hiring. “He is such a perfect fit for us. His years of storm chasing have given him incredible insight into the way storms behave and I’m proud to have him lead our team.”

Francis, who spent the past decade at KARK, is replacing Paul Ossmann, who will be leaving WXIA later this month. Read more

Anchor Jill Becker announced on Tuesday that she will bid farewell to Atlanta’s WXIA after over two decades with the NBC-affiliate.  In a station-wide meeting, she told staff that she would retire when her contract is up in August.

“After more than two decades, I am leaving a news team and a news show that I truly love,” Becker announced. “I am however, looking forward to volunteering and to catching up on 30 years of sleep!”

Becker anchors WXIA’s morning and daytime newscasts. Before joining WXIA, Becker was an anchor for Atlanta ABC-affiliate WSB, where she also worked the early shift.

“It was a surprise to the staff,” Ellen Crooke, WXIA’s news director, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “She’s the heart of our morning news team. She will be very hard to replace.” Read more