WTVQ’s latest anchor is part of hiring spree, revamp of Lexington newscasts

WTVQ-36, the ABC TV station in Lexington, has a new anchor for its telecasts and he’s a Kentucky native.

Paxton Boyd, a native of Elizabethtown and a graduate of Western Kentucky University with a degree in broadcast journalism, will join Erica Bivens on the anchor desk, according to a news release.

His first day is June 27, according to the local television station.

Boyd is “everything we were looking for to guide our news product into the future,” said ABC 36 News Director Miranda Combs. “Paxton is a necessary piece to our growing newsroom. I can’t wait for the area to get to know Paxton.”

Boyd has worked in Washington, D.C., as a national correspondent for RT America, as a news reporter at NBC Miami and at stations in Yuma, Ariz., Hazard, Mobile, Ala., and West Palm Beach, Fla., according to the release.

RT America was a U.S.-based, Russia-backed TV channel that shut down earlier this year.

“Kentucky is and always will be home for me,” Boyd said. “I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to return home and humbly serve the people of my home state. I’m filled with gratitude and absolutely cannot wait to get started.”

Earlier this month, the station announced that veteran news anchor Tom Kenny was leaving the station.

The station has been on a hiring spree, revamping many of its newscasts including the noon broadcast, which now features husband and wife team Doug and Lyssa High.

Former longtime Lexington television weatherman T.G. Shuck also was recently hired.

Combs, a former investigative reporter and anchor who served as communications director for the Kentucky Secretary of State’s office, was named news director in March.

“We’re going to do big things at ABC 36,” Combs said at the time. “News is what I know best, and we’re going to show viewers ABC 36 is the place they will trust and love to be a part of each day.”