By Special to the Daily World
Monica Pearson, veteran anchor for Channel 2 Action News, has announced her plans to retire at the end of July after 37 years with the station. Her last day anchoring the 4 and 6 p.m. news will be Wednesday, July 25.
“Wow!” said Pearson. “Thirty-seven years is a long time to have gone by so quickly. I am thankful for this job every day and for the supreme good fortune to have been allowed to pursue my life’s calling in such an honorable place as Channel 2. It’s my home away from home and this team of journalists is my family. Believe me when I say, I’m deeply honored to have served the viewers and this community in which we all make our home.”
“Monica is on a first name basis with this community,” said Tim McVay, vice president and general manager for Channel 2 WSB-TV. “In this metropolitan area, when you say ‘Monica’ people know exactly who you are talking about.
“She lights up the camera and warms up the room. I’ve never seen anything like it. And her energy is boundless when it comes to her family, her job and her support of the community. Monica makes over 150 speaking engagements each year, lending her name and time to those in need.
She gives voice to the issues and interests of this city which she loves as much as it loves her back. She’s a very special and unique person that we love and will miss very much.”
When she joined the Channel 2 Action News staff in 1975, Pearson became Atlanta’s first woman, and, first minority to anchor the 6 p.m. news.
“Joining Channel 2 Action News was an almost impossible dream come true for me when I came here from Louisville’s WHAS-TV,” said Pearson. “It took a great deal of courage on the part of WSB-TV’s management team at the time to hire me, a Black woman, to co-anchor the nightly news in Atlanta, Georgia in 1975. With that one hire they broke the color and gender barrier in local news in a major Southern city. I worked hard to repay that support every day and night over these 37 years. I’m honored to have played a role on the number one local news team in the country covering the news of this remarkable city and surrounding communities.”
She is a native of Louisville, Ky., growing up in what is known as “Smoketown” and graduating from an all-girl Catholic high school, Presentation Academy, where she has
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