Nancy Alexander says she's leaving behind her "Out There' segments on WTVT-Ch. 13 to focus on her radio career.
By ERIC DEGGANS
Published June 25, 2004
Nancy Alexander
Nancy Alexander, one of the most visible and popular personalities at Tampa Fox station WTVT-Ch. 13, has left her job as a features reporter there, saying she wants to concentrate on her radio career.
Alexander, 41, announced the move Thursday morning during her radio show on WMTX-FM 100.7. Her departure ends a nearly eight-year tenure developing unorthodox stories for WTVT's 10 p.m. newscast in a segment called "Out There."
On her morning show Thursday, Alexander cited the stress of maintaining two broadcast jobs and a need to be with her family, including two sons ages 8 and 12, as reasons for her departure.
She also has faced personal tragedies, including the cancer-related death last year of her sister Lynn Alexander Stark and the end of her 13-year marriage to area businessman Ward Smith.
Alexander hasn't appeared on WTVT since a May 31 incident in which she was cited for careless driving after leaving the scene of an accident in St. Petersburg. She eventually admitted clipping another vehicle, causing $4,000 in damage, while pulling into a parking space at a St. Petersburg drugstore. Alexander didn't mention the accident - or a 2002 no contest plea to charges of driving under the influence - in a statement released Thursday confirming her departure from WTVT. She declined an interview request through a spokesman.
"After five years of having what I think are two of the best jobs in broadcasting in the Tampa Bay area, I've decided to focus on one of my careers," Alexander said in the statement. She is expected to take next week off from her WMTX show.
Officials at WTVT declined to comment on whether Alexander was asked to leave the station or whether her recent personal troubles contributed to her departure.
"She made the decision to pursue radio, and I wish her well in that endeavor," said WTVT general manager Bob Linger, who couldn't say whether the station will hire someone else to file similar reports. "The "Out There' segment was a segment unique to Nancy Alexander. I don't know that we've made a determination about what to do with that yet."
Alexander first gained local fame as "Nancy in the Sky," a traffic reporter for WRBQ-FM 104.7 in the 1980s. After a short stint in Houston, she came back to WUSA, the station then on the 100.7 frequency that WMTX occupies now, later getting part-time work on WTVT as an entertainment reporter in 1995.
A year later, Alexander left radio to work full-time for WTVT, developing a reputation for outrageous stories, such as a report on self-adhesive bras. WTVT also featured her in brief announcements outlining the station's daytime and prime-time programming.
In 1999, she returned to radio, replacing Mason Dixon on WMTX. Her national profile grew following an October 2000 appearance co-hosting the daytime show Live With Regis alongside Regis Philbin as producers were looking for a woman to replace Kathie Lee Gifford. The job eventually went to All My Children alum Kelly Ripa.
A St. Petersburg Times article in 1999 described Alexander's hectic schedule, noting that she would head for WTVT right after completing her 6 to 10 a.m. show on WMTX weekdays. "My goal ... is to just be at home for dinner," she said then.
In 2002, Alexander pleaded no contest to charges of driving under the influence after she drove off Interstate 275 into a road construction area. She registered a blood-alcohol content of 0.183 percent, more than twice the level at which a driver is presumed impaired.
Earlier this month, St. Petersburg Police Chief Chuck Harmon said he would have cited Alexander for a more serious, hit-and-run misdemeanor charge following the May 31 accident, in which she left the scene and initially denied her involvement in the collision, blaming her sister.
A police report said the investigating officer could smell alcohol on her breath, but Alexander said she had a glass of wine after the incident because she was scared.
In her statement Thursday, Alexander expressed hope the move would allow her to pare down 14-hour workdays, noting, "The hours involved in doing a morning radio show are more conducive to having personal time for myself and for my family."
