By Neal Boling

Published: August 22, 2008

Today at 5:59pm, Selena (Sunshine) Wiles will sign off for the last time at WJHL. It’s been my privilege to serve as her supervisor for the past 8 months. Tim Cable and other anchors have occasionally slipped up and referred to her as “Sunshine” on the air a few times. That’s because Sunshine is her real name. I’m told that she was forced to change it for on-air purposes years ago because the audience wouldn’t necessarily embrace an anchor named “Sunshine.” I’d have to disagree. If you knew Sunshine, you’d agree that name is actually quite fitting. Sunshine is not leaving WJHL because she was fired (as I am sure many will send me angry letters about in the next few weeks). She is leaving because she has an opportunity to be two hours closer to her family in West Virginia. It also helps that she will be a main anchor at a station in Erie, PA. Most people in Sunshine’s position covet such an opportunity. Sunshine approaches that part of the job with mixed feelings. She is a storyteller, and a viewer advocate. It’s much more difficult to do that purely as a newscast anchor. Sunshine will be sorely missed in this newsroom, and in our community.
We have lost several popular people at WJHL in the past few months. Each has had various reasons. Melinda Perkins is getting married and wanted to be focus her attention on her new family. Tom Wachs took a huge promotion opportunity to land in Kansas City (and again, much closer to his family). And Josh Green took a big promotion to our sister station in Raleigh, NC. In many cases, the difficult economic times in our industry (media such as broadcast and newspaper are facing historic challenges) have determined that we are unable to replace their positions. This has forced the WJHL newsroom to undergo a humongous adjustment to cover the same amount of news, and cover it well.
I’m excited to announce two more reporters will likely help fill this new void in the coming weeks. But I recognize that Sunshine, Melinda, Tom, and Josh each held a special place in your hearts, and that they cannot truly be replaced. Our commitment to outstanding journalism will continue. We hope you will continue watching.