Director's Cut Blog with Frank Macek

By Frank Macek Jasmine Monroe. Courtesy First Coast News If you worked a morning shift in Cleveland over the last decade, chances are you started your day with Jasmine Monroe’s energy lighting up the screen.  She was a spark in 3News’ early hours—nimble in breaking news, generous with community features, and quick with a smile that telegraphed warmth as much as authority. Then she stepped away from local air—off on a new chapter that, true to form, has been ambitious and purpose-driven. So where is Jasmine Monroe now, and how did she get there? Monroe closed her WKYC chapter in the spring of 2022 with an on-air farewell that felt less like a send-off and more like a thank-you from Northeast Ohio. Colleagues saluted her reportorial chops and her bond with viewers; the goodbye underscored how thoroughly she had woven herself into the market’s morning fabric.  Her next stop: Florida’s capital. In October 2022, Monroe joined WTXL (ABC 27) in Tallahassee as a morning anchor on th...

Jasmine Monroe By Frank Macek WKYC welcomes Jasmine Monroe who is joining the Channel 3 News team from NBC affiliate, WFMJ-TV, in Youngstown, Ohio, where she was a morning show out and about reporter, announced WKYC News Director Brennan Donnellan. Monroe's first assignment will be an important one. She will be working out of our brand new Akron-Canton digital mobile newsroom as a multimedia journalist traveling to our southern counties with WKYC videojournalist Carl Bachtel to find great stories and to show how people in Akron and Canton are "seeing the possible." She was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she attended Penn Hills High School. At the age of 15-years-old Jasmine knew that reporting was in her future.  Monroe continued her education at Clarion University and reported local news at the campus tv and radio station.  After earning her B.S. in broadcast journalism, she moved to Washington D.C. where she interned at BET N...

We first told you about the WFMJ-TV & WBCB-TV/Youngstown fire back in October. New information has been reported by The Youngstown Vindicator that the fire was intentionally set, according to fire officials. Here was the blurb The Vindy posted on their website about the incident. YOUNGSTOWN - A fire that occurred at 4:12 a.m. Oct. 31 at WFMJ-TV 21 at 101 Boardman St. has been ruled arson, said Lt. Kevin Johnson, an arson investigator. He said the fire was set along storage boxes on wooden shelving in the basement. He declined to say what was used to start the fire. "I'm reviewing security tapes and employee logs to see who was there. There's still a lot of work to do," Johnson said. If not for the smoke detector, the building would be a hole in the ground and firefighters could have been killed, he said, adding the basement is like a maze. Damage was in excess of $100,000, he said. To read our original article on the fire with video: CLICK HERE Information courte...

UPDATED: 10/31/07 - 8:00 PM A fire struck at our NBC sister station, WFMJ-TV (and CW Affiliate WBCB-TV), in Youngstown at 4:15 Wednesday morning, nixing normal broadcasting for the morning show. It's unclear the extent of the damage or the length of the partial service. The fire was contained to a basement storage room, but smoke damage was extensive. WFMJ's morning show this morning was produced outside building with live news anchor standup presentation, but it was just brief broadcasts. As of their 6 pm broadcast tonight, the cause of the fire had not been determined. WFMJ reports the cleanup continues on their equipment used directly in their newscast and programming production. To see video from WFMJ, click the "play" button on the media player below to begin watching: