Jackson Jambalaya

This is a post I hate writing. All good things come to an end and Wendy's time at WLBT has as well. I've known her for 2 1/2 years now and she has become one of my really good friends in that time. She is one of the most talented and nicest people I've met since I started up this blog three years ago. She will be leaving WLBT for a gig in Little Rock and she will no doubt become a hit in that town as she was here.

I owe alot of what I do on this blog to Wendy, believe it or not. She was my first real contact with any media in Jackson. We exchanged some emails after she won my first Hottest Reporter Poll. I didn't even know who she was and left her out of the first run until many of you knuckleheads protested her omission so much I hit the reset button. Then I found out prior to the hearing that George Bell III was going to plead guilty and get life from very, very good sources. I sent her an email when I went to bed that Sunday night saying I had a very important tip on the Bell case and to call me immediately, even if it was 3:00 AM. She called me shortly after 7:00 AM, I told her there was going to be a hearing. She said, yes, she knew, it was some minor hearing, and I replied no, he is pleading guilty and getting life and told her my sources (had permission). She ran to the courthouse with a cameraman in tow and had the best story of the day and one of the biggest ones that year. Got all the interviews, got all the angles, and stayed on the clock twelve hours, even going live at five and six that evening. Wendy had a real scoop and knew it, didn't care it came from a "blogger" unlike reporters at other stations and papers. She just cared about the story and covered it better than anyone else, origins be damned. I got a great deal of confidence writing this blog from dealing with her as she encouraged me more than once to keep at it.

She introduced me to many people in the news business, explained to me on several occasions how things worked in tv land, and was patient with my dumb questions.
Since then, we've become good friends and she's always been a pleasure to be around. Always funny. Even in a bad mood there is her own charming little twist to her frustration that few can match that. Although a popular news anchor, Wendy never cared about that as away from the station, she was a regular person who just had a job to do, something special in an industry filled with divas. I'm going to hate seeing my lunch friend leave but its on to bigger and better things for her. She is a class act and I wish her the best.