Former WKBW-TV (Channel 7) General Manager Mike Nurse used to joke that he needed to find anchor Ashley Rowe a husband to keep her in Western New York for the long term.
She didn’t need Nurse’s help. She married Buffalo native Dan Greene and started a family, which ironically enough has indirectly led her to end a six-and-a-half-year run at WKBW after Friday’s newscasts.
“I met Dan because I didn’t know anybody when I moved here,” Rowe said in an interview on the Buffalo waterfront.
One of the connections she made when she came here suggested she meet Greene, who at one time was working at 43North.
“I didn’t know who he was or anything about the organization. I thought, maybe this will be a cool media partnership,” said Rowe.
A different partnership emerged. Nurse’s plan seemed to be working.
People are also reading…
“I’ve had some people at the station say, ‘Now that you have a family you are locked in,’ ” said Rowe. “I certainly think we are locked into Buffalo.”
However, she wasn’t locked into WKBW.
Rowe, 33, spent five years as an anchor reporter in Toronto before coming to WKBW and has dual American and Canadian citizenship. She announced last month that she is leaving to spend more time with the couple’s infant daughter, Phoebe.
“This has been bubbling probably since I got pregnant,” said Rowe. “You sort of start to think about the next chapter.”
Rowe decided to leave several months after dropping the 11 p.m. newscast to have a better work-life balance. The schedule change helped. But was she surprised the benefit wasn’t greater?
“I think everything about being a mom surprised me,” said Rowe. “It (the schedule change) does matter.”
The main benefit should speak to all working mothers.
“I can go to bed at 9:30, which is a huge deal,” Rowe said with a laugh. “I still don’t get home until 7 at night and by that time Phoebe already is winding down. I still don’t have time to do bath time with her and that kind of thing.”
Time can be a precious thing for TV anchors and reporters, who never know when they will be called on to work.
“You have to be always ‘on’ in TV news,” said Rowe. “It is very demanding. But it is a thrill. Part of the reason we get into the business because of the adrenaline rush and no two days are the same.”
The flexibility needed to work in TV news was illustrated the day of the interview. Rowe unexpectedly had to anchor the noon newscast, which put her in a time crunch. She looked at her watch, not to check the time but to illustrate how busy a mother can be before 11 a.m.
“I’ve already almost closed my exercise ring for the day, and I haven’t even tried,” said Rowe with a laugh. “I haven’t even put on a pair of sneakers.”
She almost reached her exercise goal by running around to catch Phoebe, walking the family dog and trying to get ready for work.
Rowe said she has gotten “overwhelming support” since her announcement, with people telling her she will never regret the choice because you can’t get the time back with your children.
She realizes that she is in a different category than many other mothers in broadcasting because she has a successful spouse with the earning power as a data security and privacy lawyer to give her the opportunity to take time off.
“I’ve done a whole special on the child care crisis in this country and in this state,” said Rowe, whose husband does a lot of travel for his job. “I am acutely aware of how lucky I am to be in a position that I can take time off, whether it is two months or two years or whatever. The fact I can make that choice is a gift. I used to – before I had Phoebe – and boy oh boy has it ever been solidified – give working families all the credit in the world.”
Her workdays since the mass shooting at Tops have made her appreciate the power of local TV news even more.
“My belief in the power of local news to provide a light for people has never been stronger,” said Rowe. “And I really value journalism and I really value broadcast journalism.”
Rowe recently has been asked if she is excited to be leaving.
“I keep saying, I’m ready to leave but I love what I do,” said Rowe. “So, when the shooting happened in Buffalo and then Uvalde happened, I thought to myself, it is going to be tough to walk away. Not enough to change my mind. It makes me want to hold Phoebe even closer.”
Rowe understands that she didn’t have the ratings impact on the third-rated station that Nurse had hoped for when he hired her to co-anchor.
“I didn’t think (the ratings) would go in any direction but of course the competitor in me hoped that we would be able to make a really big splash,” said Rowe.
There was one positive take away during the recently completed May sweeps: WKBW’s third-rated 6 p.m. newscast Rowe co-anchors with Jeff Russo substantially increased its rating year to year while competitors WGRZ-TV (Channel 2) and WIVB-TV (Channel 4) experienced significant decreases in that time slot.
The inability for Rowe and Russo to have a greater impact was beyond their control in many ways as WKBW didn’t get the promotional support and saw a revolving door of reporters in a market that is resistant to change and values stability.
But she is proud of her impact in other ways.
“I hope this doesn’t come across as self-centered,” said Rowe. “I think I’ve contributed to a positive culture at that station. It is a really encouraging atmosphere and we really all look out for each other and that is not a given in the local news business or the news business period. I’m really proud of that.”
“I’ve been here six and a half years and I think I’ve made some pretty good connections,” she added. “I’ve built quite a bit of trust and I’ve had the opportunity to meet with and tell stories about remarkable people who are not necessarily exceptional people."
For now, she plans to tell part of her own story by writing a book about her experiences with fertility before giving birth to Phoebe. It took two years to conceive, including months of fertility drugs and the assistance of a fertility specialist who helped her through, among other things, an ectopic pregnancy.
“Even in 2022, we have a long way go in discussing fertility,” said Rowe, who hopes Phoebe will eventually have a sibling. “If we are lucky enough to have another child, we will.”
Rowe thinks she may return to TV but isn’t sure if it will be behind the scenes or in front of the camera.
“I don’t think this is a forever move for me, but it is a ‘for right now’ move,” said Rowe.
