Mike Francis, chief meteorologist for KARK-TV, Channel 4, is officially leaving the station and has accepted a job at an affiate in Atlanta.
Francis announced his departure on-air Friday morning, his last with the station. He accepted the chief meteorologist position at Gannett-owned WXIA-TV, Channel 11, in Atlanta, a market rated No. 8 in the nation by Nielsen Media Research. The Little Rock market is ranked No. 56.
The news of Francis’ departure for Atlanta was . Soon after, reports surfaced that KARK had announced the news before Francis’ deal with the Atlanta station had been finalized.
Mike Vaughn, the new general manager of Nexstar Broadcasting-owned KARK, recognized that there had been some confusion about the timing of the announcement, but didn’t know much more. Vaughn arrived at KARK after the announcement had occurred.
Vaughn said that the station would be working to get Francis’ position filled quickly.
“That is something that is a high priority with us,” he said. “We’re aggressively interviewing both internal and external candidates. That’s not a position that you can leave open very long. That will be something that we will move very aggressively on.”
Francis began at KARK in 2001 and was promoted to chief meteorologist in 2008. He has been on hand for many of Arkansas’ severe weather events, including the tornado in Vilonia in April.
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