Shamonee Baker has been named morning anchor at WKRG Mobile, Alabama. She joined the Nexstar Media Group station in 2022, not long after graduating from Florida A&M, as a dayside reporter at News 5, then shifted to morning show reporter, and anchoring on a fill-in-basis, then went back to dayside.
In 2023, Baker became a weekend evening anchor and nightside reporter at WKRG.
She starts on News 5 This Morning January 22, succeeding Jessica Taloney in the anchor chair, with Taloney departing to spend more time with family.
“Shamonee has come a long way in a short period of time,” WKRG VP and general manager Jesse Grear said on WKRG.com. “She’s a pleasure to be around, and our viewers love her. We couldn’t ask for a better person to join the morning team!”
TVSpy previously reported on Baker’s move to mornings.
News director Gene Kirkconnell called Baker a “tenacious journalist, a wonderful teammate, and just plain fun to be around” on WKRG.com.
Baker’s first time on a local news set was in fourth grade, when she appeared on a cable news channel to talk about the aerospace program in her elementary school in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, which is part of the Mobile-Pensacola DMA.