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Jillian Mele Leaving FOX News
Published:
Former NBC 10 and CSN anchor Jillian Mele is leaving FOX News.
From Brian Steinberg at Variety:
Carley Shimkus will take up the co-anchor seat on “Fox & Friends First” opposite Todd Piro after Jillian Mele announced Friday that she was leaving the early-morning program.
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Mele said she was leaving to focus on an MBA program at La Salle University in Philadelphia. She joined Fox News from Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia in March 2017.
Kyle Scott, aka “The Maestro” broke the Mele news back in the day.
Regardless of your thoughts on FOX News, this is a huge step up for Mele. Not particularly surprisingly, either. She was easily the best on-air personality on BOB, and always seemed like she would one day do a national show. Wasn’t expecting FOX News, however. If she gets the 5 a.m. hour, she’ll expand her viewership from a small fraction of hardcore Philly sports fans to, oh, the president of the United States, who apparently has nothing better to do in the mornings. And let’s be honest, Mele easily fits the FOX News aesthetic.
I can’t say I watched a lot of FOX and Friends over the years, but Mele consistently worked that morning shift during her tenure.
She explained her departure on set, saying this:
Goodbye and good luck to @jillianmele! pic.twitter.com/t4mzO9ptnR
— johnny dollar (@johnnydollar01) October 29, 2021
Mele was previously a traffic reporter and anchor for NBC 10 before she left to join the launch of Breakfast on Broad in 2015, which also featured Sarah Baicker, Barrett Brooks, and Rob Ellis. Baicker got out of Philly media, though Brooks and Ellis are still doing local sports.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com