Advertisement

‘Didn’t think this was possible.’ Tisha Powell talks about her new anchor job.

Tisha Powell’s new job as an afternoon anchor at WAFB in Baton Rouge is something she didn’t think was possible.

The longtime ABC11 evening anchor, who left the station at the end of July to move back to her native Louisiana and start a new career with more family friendly hours, told The News & Observer on Tuesday that part-time anchor jobs just don’t happen.

“Honestly, I didn’t think this was possible,” Powell said.

“A lot of people don’t get the opportunity to work part-time anchoring,” she said. “They approached me and asked if I would be willing to work full-time and I said no — if I wanted to do that, I wouldn’t have left the job I had!”

In an interview with The News & Observer the week before her final broadcast on ABC11, Powell said that she had worked nights for about 15 years at the station, and that working from home some during the pandemic had opened her eyes to the time she was missing with her youngest daughter, who is 7.

Powell anchored the 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts at ABC11 — a schedule which made for very long days. “I am physically exhausted,” Powell told The N&O in June.

‘You’re one of us’

Powell said this week that the folks at WAFB, a Gray Media station, had asked her what it would take to get her to come back to news.

She told them it would have to be a part-time job that would allow her to finish working on her Leadership and Communications Master’s of Science degree at Purdue University, and also give her time with her family.

When they told her they could make that happen, she asked her husband: “Do I really want to go back?”

“This is exactly what you wanted, so why not?” he responded.

“I was a little apprehensive at first because I got my mind wrapped around coming back here and just finishing school and decompressing and going in a different direction,” Powell said.

But the WAFB position — with the coveted part-time hours — was too good to pass up.

“I felt really flattered that they had enough faith in what they were getting that they were willing to create something that works for me,” she said. “I feel so fortunate to be able to find that — and to be able to find that at home. And they look at me like, ‘You’re one of us and we want to make this work for you.’”

Powell, who said she is still in the middle of unpacking at her new home, will co-anchor the 4 and 5 p.m. newscasts at the station starting Aug. 9.

That means dinner at home every night with her husband and daughter.

Another bonus? Those relatives she moved back to Louisiana to be near can now watch her on TV.

“My whole family is in this viewing area, even my dad who lives in North Mississippi,” Powell said. “My whole family is very excited. So I have a cheering section ... If they are not WAFB viewers now, they will be.”