Maggie Grinestaff has taken over as news director at WCIA Champaign, Illinois, the first time a woman has held that post in the history of the central Illinois station. Previously the assistant news director, she succeeds Andy Miller in running the WCIA newsroom.
Grinestaff got a journalism degree at Eastern Illinois University and worked at the university’s WEIU as a reporter and anchor.
She joined WCIA, owned by Nexstar Media Group, as a reporter in 2014, when she was Maggie Hockenberry. She said of her reporting days on WCIA.com: “I talked to people on some of the toughest days of their lives. I always wanted to make sure I told the story with integrity, but that I was also human to those people. I didn’t want to be someone stumbling in with a microphone. If it was a time of healing, I wanted to provide hope. If it was a time of uncertainty, I wanted to provide comfort.”
Grinestaff moved up to assignment editor and media manager before she became assistant news director. She began as news director at the CBS affiliate on August 7.
“I take ‘Your Local News Leader’ to heart,” she said on WCIA.com. “When anything happens in this community, they’re turning to us. I want us to remember why we do what we do and that we need to be on our top game every chance we get.”
