When co-anchor Ashley Rowe left WKBW-TV (Channel 7) almost a year ago, she said she didn’t feel leaving local TV news was a “forever move,” but rather a “for right now” move.
Now, she has moved right back into the business.
Starting today, Rowe will co-anchor at 7 and 11 p.m. weekdays and also report at WRAL-TV, the NBC affiliate in Raleigh-Durham, N.C.
The job became available after Debra Morgan, who has anchored at WRAL for 30 years, essentially did what WIVB-TV’s (Channel 4) Jacquie Walker did recently. Morgan decided to drop the two evening newscasts that Rowe is now working to co-anchor at 5 and 6 p.m.
Raleigh-Durham is a Top 25 TV market, while Buffalo is outside of the Top 50.
When Rowe left Channel 7 after more than six years there, she said she wanted to spend more time with her young daughter Phoebe.
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Rowe, who spent five years as an anchor-reporter in Toronto before coming to Buffalo and has dual American and Canadian citizenship, decided to leave Channel 7 in June, several months after dropping the 11 p.m. newscast to have a better work-life balance.
“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,” Rowe said.
She and her husband, Dan Greene, a lawyer who specializes in cybersecurity, and Phoebe have spent the winter in Miami.
Her reasons for returning to television news were simple.
“I still love the business,” Rowe said in a telephone interview. “It's the industry that I've been in for almost 15 years, and I love it and I love to tell stories and share the news of the day and the stories that matter with viewers with people who care about what's going on in their community.”
Her husband can work anywhere remotely, so it was easier for the family to relocate to North Carolina.
She is excited about living in the Raleigh-Durham area, where Duke University and North Carolina State are located and where Wake Forest University is about 100 miles away.
“I think that Raleigh is a fascinating city,” Rowe said. “There is immense growth there. Major companies are putting headquarters there, there's the research triangle. There is just an incredible amount of academia coming out of that area. Medical research coming out of there. I think it's just a really cool place. I went down and visited and I was like, this is neat and interesting.
“I remember calling my husband and saying there are a lot of similarities that I feel to Buffalo. So I feel like it'll be a nice transition for me. And, you know, I can't complain about the weather, either.”
How are the two areas similar?
“Specifically, the friendliness of the people and impressive investments to the region,” Rowe said.
“I was walking down one of their main streets there and, I just sort of got the same kind of feel that I get from walking down Main Street after a show at Shea’s or walking down Elmwood Avenue. Just people who are really excited to be there, to commit themselves there. Just a very friendly vibe similar to the way that you have that friendly vibe in Buffalo.”
She and her husband, a Buffalo native, plan to maintain their home in Buffalo.
“We obviously have a lot of very close ties to Buffalo and family still there and great friends and I'm still very much involved with Feed More Western New York and will continue to be as involved as I can from a distance. So we're keeping our house and look forward to being back (for) the holidays.”
