JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Broadcasters Association hosted a luncheon Wednesday featuring a panel of former WJXT employees, including former anchor Rob Sweeting, sports director Sam Kouvaris, studio manager Freddie Rhodes, and more.
As WJXT continues celebrating its 75th year bringing local news to Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia, the former employees went through their journeys at Channel 4 and how the station evolved throughout their careers.
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The panel began with Harry Reagan, who said his WJXT career started in 1967 as an investigative reporter.
“I made that big transition [at WJXT] from print journalism to TV journalism,” Reagan said. “But the kind of thing that was going at Channel 4 was just good journalism.”
He added that WJXT’s investigative reporting on local government corruption at the time paved the way for the consolidation of city and county government in 1968, which still exists in Jacksonville today.
The next speaker, Freddie Rhodes, who spent 53 years at WJXT, spoke about how much he loved working in the studio, saying he enjoyed doing it until the day he retired.
Rhodes' career at WJXT began in 1971.
Rounding out the panel were Kouvaris and Sweeting, who collectively spent over 50 years delivering the news to WJXT’s audience.
They both shared stories of how WJXT built its reputation in the community and became the leader in local news for the Jacksonville area.
“The quality of journalism was unparalleled,” Kouvaris said.
“One thing I always admired about the station is journalism...[and] the quality of work that it did and the quality of people that came to work there,” Sweeting said.
The panel of speakers represented over 200 years of experience working at WJXT.
