Former WHO anchor Jodi Long joins KCCI, switches teams after one year away from local TV

Former WHO morning anchor Jodi Long is set to join local CBS affiliate KCCI.

The announcement comes after KCCI teased recently that an anchor with a decade of experience on central Iowa local TV news would join its staff.

Long will anchor the noon and 5 p.m. newscasts on the station starting Tuesday, Oct. 3. She'll join newly promoted anchor Laura Terrel and meteorologist Anne Campolongo for the evening newscasts.

She announced her departure from WHO, where she worked for almost 10 years, and TV news last September. Following her exit, Long became health equity director at Des Moines-based stillbirth prevention organization Healthy Birth Day Inc.

“Jodi is a perfect fit for our news team,” KCCI News Director Allison Smith said in a statement announcing Long's hire. “She is a light within our community and is passionate about sharing people’s stories. These are the values we celebrate as 'Iowa’s News Leader.'”

During TV absence, Jodi Long put a spotlight on maternal health

"From a fresh out of college graduate to a mother of two, it’s been a decade of ever-changing seasons for me. I’m in the midst a new season where my husband, Bishop and Jaira need a more rested, heathier and available wife and mommy," Long said in a statement at the time of her departure.

The Ankeny High School alum first joined WHO in January 2013 after graduating from the University of Northwestern ― St. Paul, then known as Northwestern College. She rose through the Channel 13 ranks and went from multimedia journalist and reporter to co-anchor of the station's morning show “Today in Iowa” in 2019.

Previously: WHO 13 morning anchor Jodi Long leaves the station to go on a mission to help other moms

She is married to her husband, Ra Shaan, and the couple have two children, Jaira and Bishop. Long joined Healthy Birth Day after opening up about her own struggles with post-partum pre-eclampsia, a rare and severe post-birth condition that involves high blood pressure.

Long worked on Count the Kicks, the charity’s stillbirth prevention campaign for expectant parents, which encourages users to monitor a baby’s movements by counting the number of kicks daily at the start of the third trimester on their mobile phones.

More: KCCI names Jason Sydejko new chief meteorologist after Chris Gloninger 'death threat' exit

Long's announcement comes amid recent Des Moines TV news staffing changes

In recent months, local TV news stations have had several staffing shakeups. Long's return to the airwaves is a part of a larger pattern of coming and goings in local TV news at all three stations over the past year.

Around the same time that Long left WHO last fall, former local news personality and “Good Morning Iowa” co-anchor Jackie Schmillen departed Local 5 and joined the Iowa National Guard as its first-ever civilian public affairs director. Other notable changes at Local 5 include the departure of meteorologist Dave Downey this summer.

After almost 15 years, Long's former colleague, meteorologist Brett McIntyre, left the NBC station last April. The affiliate's former WHO political director Dave Price also departed the station after 22 years in April.

KCCI has also had its share of departures and arrivals over the past year. Evening anchor Steve Karlin announced he was leaving KCCI last November and said goodbye to the station in March after three decades. The local ratings leader named Tallahassee evening anchor and reporter Ben Kaplan as Karlin's replacement earlier this month.

The station's former chief meteorologist Chris Gloninger made national headlines in June after his exit due to a viewer-related "death threat" due to his ongoing on-air coverage of the climate in June. Gloninger was later replaced by Jason Sydejko. KCCI's chief political reporter Cynthia Fodor retired last year after 28 years on air.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Ben Kaplan worked in Tennessee before being hired at KCCI. The article has been updated.

Jay Stahl is an entertainment reporter at The Des Moines Register. Follow him on Instagram or reach out at jstahl@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Jodi Long joins KCCI as anchor after leaving WHO