After more than four decades in journalism in the Valley, WFMJ 21 News Director Mona Marie Alexander has decided to retire at the end of the year.

Assistant News Director Sheila Miller and Managing Editor Justin Mitchell join Mona to reflect on her impact on news coverage in the Valley and the changes she made during her time at WFMJ - including adding the Feed Our Valley, which helps numerous people in our community, and growing our news coverage by adding WFMJ Today, WFMJ Weekend Today, 21 News 5 pm, expanding WFMJ Midday to an hour, and 101 West, WFMJ's investigative news program, during her tenure.

You can listen to the audio podcast here:

 

Mona Marie Alexander spoke about the highlights of her career, starting in Chicago where she lived for about 20 years with her family. She fondly remembers getting the Chicago Sun Times and the Chicago Tribune with her father and discussing the news with her family at the dinner table.

Alexander started in Youngstown in the late 1970s after college, something that was rare for the market. She covered the closures of steel mills at that time as a reporter in the downtown area.

Mona Marie covered some big stories from the organized crime beat and the murder of mobster Joey Naples to Jim Trafficant's 1980 campaign for sheriff and his racketeering trial where Trafficant defended himself. She also covered the 1985 tornado that hit Niles and Wheatland.

After deciding she didn't need to go back to Chicago because of the similarities with Youngstown, she moved from her position as a reporter to a management role.

She moved over to WFMJ after meeting with former general manager John Grdic, taking on the role of news director in 1997.

During her time as news director, 21 News launched WFMJ Today with a handful of personalities like Frank Marzullo, Scott Schneider and Nicole Perry. WFMJ's 5 p.m. newscast also launched under Mona Marie's guidance, becoming number one in just a year.

On her decision to retire, Alexander said knew it was time last summer. She cited the period between September 2022 through September 2023 as a monumental year with the JD Vance and Tim Ryan debate, East Palestine derailment, the Youngstown City Schools investigation and the launch of 101 West.

Or watch the video version of the podcast on our YouTube channel: