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A local news station in Texas has debuted what is believed to be the first all-Black female news anchors of a major network in the country.
KCEN, an NBC affiliate serving Temple, Waco, Killeen, and the surrounding areas put together the all-Black female news anchor crew to host its morning show Texas Today.
Jasmin Caldwell, Taheshah Moise and meteorologist Ashley Carter began hosting Texas Today starting on May 2.
The historic trio sat down with KCEN Senior Producer Crystal Pratt to discuss the historic change and what it means to them individually.
“When I first came to KCEN in 2017, we did not have any African American anchors. “It was completely different,” said Texas Today Anchor Jasmin Caldwell.
“I just think back to when I was a young girl and I used to watch the news with my parents and I never saw anyone who looked like me, ” said Texas Today Anchor Taheshah Moise. “If I did, they were outside reporting in the cold.”
Historic trio of Black news anchors here to stay
Those people who view the historic trio as some sort of publicity stunt are in for a rude awakening.
“I think the thing that I was most fearful of is people downplaying our talents to try and say this team was put together so this station could look more diverse,” said Texas Today Meteorologist Ashley Carter.
“I think it is important to know when people watch us every morning, they will be able to see that each and every one of us earned our position on this team. I don’t think our news director intentionally did it. I think he just realized they are all women, and they are all black, but hey they are the best for this show, and this is what we’re going to do.”
You can watch the historic trio Monday through Friday from 4:30 a.m. through 7:30 a.m. on Texas Today.
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