Anchor Mark Hayes has left WLWT-TV after three years as anchor-reporter. Mollie Lair joined the News 5 team from Cape Girardeau, MO.
Hayes was hired in 2014 to co-anchor mornings with Lisa Cooney.
He moved to the night shift in January to anchor the 10 p.m. news on Me TV (Channel 5.2). Mike Dardis anchored the 10 p.m. news on Monday.
Lair began co-anchoring weekend evening newscasts with Courtis Fuller on Saturday, Aug. 26.
Lair, a Kentucky native, worked two years in Parkersburg, WV, before going to KFVS-TV in Cape Girardeau for nearly four years. She interned for the "CBS Evening News" in New York and for NBC News in London while attending Elon University in North Carolina.
She describes herself on Twitter (@MLairWLWT) as "a die-hard Kentucky fan."
Hayes "has left the WLWT newsroom to pursue other future assignments," says Branden J. Frantz, Channel 5 general manager. On his Facebook page in July, Hayes promoted his Mark Hayes Consulting business offering media training, brand management and motivational speaking.
The addition of Lair as weekend co-anchor continues the anchor team tinkering under Frantz, a former WXIX-TV sales executive hired in November. Since January the station has added morning co-anchor Colin Mayfield and traffic reporter Vanessa Richardson, and weekend morning meteorologist Ashley Brown.
