Jill Becker retiring at 11 Alive in August after 23 years
CREDIT: WXIA-TV
Jill Becker, a fixture in the Atlanta TV market for three decades, announced today that she’s going to retire in August when her contract is up.
“It was a surprise to the staff,” said news director Ellen Crooke. “She’s the heart of our morning news team. She will be very hard to replace.”
By giving seven months notice, Becker is giving 11 Alive plenty of time to find a replacement.
“After more than two decades, I am leaving a news team and a news show that I truly love,” Becker said in a press release. “I am however, looking forward to volunteering and to catching up on 30 years of sleep!”
In an interview later in the day, she said she had been thinking about retirement the past year but only recently told management. She wants to work more with Cure Childhood Cancer, a charity group. (She has a son who had T-Cell Lymphoma at age three. He is now 23 and cancer free.)
“I’m so incredibly grateful that I’ve had this long a run,” she said. “I don’t think people in television expect this type of run in one city.”
She’s worked side by side with several male anchors over the years, including Keith Whitney, Clarence Reynolds, Chuck Moore, Ken Watts, Dennis Douda and even Wes Sarginson for a brief time. Her current co-host is, for the first time, a woman: Karyn Greer.
According to her bio on the WXIA-TV website, she hails from St. Louis and graduated with a bachelor’s degree on mass communications at the University of South Florida in Tampa. She began her TV career in Jacksonville, Fla. then moved to Little Rock, Ark. before coming to Atlanta in 1981 to work for Channel 2 Action News. She joined 11 Alive in 1988.
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By Rodney Ho, rho@ajc.com, AJCRadioTV blog
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136 comments Add your comment
martha
January 25th, 2011
7:46 pm
oh no!!! this is terrible!!! but i sure hope jill enjoys her retirement — you know she will enjoy her work with cure childhood cancer — she has got to know tho how much she will be missed — we long time atlantans love you jill becker
LackLusterLife
January 25th, 2011
7:48 pm
Jill I am so happy for you that you are retiring to enjoy your life. I wish I could retire from Atlanta Public Schools, I am so sick of that place, there is no joy there and I have to keep going there daily until I can retire or die. Enjoy the rest of your life.
JAG
January 25th, 2011
7:51 pm
Congratulations Jill! You are the BEST morning news anchor by FAR! I always feel a bit down when I don’t see you on the news! I was glad to see you back this morning and will miss you when you’re gone!
Kimy
January 25th, 2011
8:03 pm
Jill will be missed. Thanks for everything you have done for Atlanta. Enjoy your retirement because it is well deserved. I will continue to watch until your last day.
Tech Man
January 25th, 2011
8:03 pm
Jill Becker ROCKS!
Jacki Labat
January 25th, 2011
8:04 pm
Love her! Class act!!!! Enjoy retirement to the fullest!
Shirley
January 25th, 2011
8:09 pm
I was shocked to her that Jill Becker is retiring, she will be missed. With the economy the way that it is i dono’t blame her for getting out while she can. May God bless her and her family.
Melvin
January 25th, 2011
8:12 pm
Jill is simple AWESOME!!!!!
Vernon
January 25th, 2011
8:22 pm
Positive and smiling….everyday…made my world brighter!
qwerty
January 25th, 2011
8:22 pm
Jill and I have been having our morning coffee together for years! Jill, I’ll miss you. I do not look forward to having my coffee with someone new.
Good luck to Jill in the future. She’ll be missed!!!
HENRY
January 25th, 2011
8:24 pm
YOU’RE THE GREATEST………AND I WILL MISS YOU
Winnie
January 25th, 2011
8:24 pm
I remember seeing you on TV when we first moved to GA 26 years ago. Congratulations on your retirement. CURE is also dear to me. My teenaged son died of cancer 11 years ago. CURE was a very important part of our cancer experience. They will be blessed to have you as a volunteer.
Coffee High Trojan '73
January 25th, 2011
8:26 pm
Hey sam sung! You must not be watching the Jill Becker I have been watching for 30 years. She is a CLASS ACT! Why are you so negative? Is your anal nerve crossed with you optic nerve?
SWAT Native
January 25th, 2011
8:33 pm
Here comes Suchita!
Doris M
January 25th, 2011
8:33 pm
Sorry to hear that Jill Becker is leaving 11 Alive. She’s had some very good years in Atlanta. But it’s good to leave while you’re on top. I retired five years ago after working 37 years and have not missed it at all. My life is so full now, I wonder how I had time to work. Best of retirement to you!
Colorado R.
January 25th, 2011
8:35 pm
Geeeezzzzz, Who will I keep up with for my ATL News here in Colorado.
A class act!!!
B. White
January 25th, 2011
8:43 pm
Glad to see her go and a fresh face come in.
rod
January 25th, 2011
8:48 pm
Jill, I have been with you from WSB to 11Alive. I feel we are related. you have always been great and I will miss you. Good luck
Atlantarama
January 25th, 2011
8:54 pm
I really think Jill is the best anchor in Atlanta, and I’m sad to see her go.
Mike Bell
January 25th, 2011
9:04 pm
Hey-ooooh! I’m available to take over her morning slot and I promise a non-stop laugh riot with my HILARIOUS sports impersonations.
bwell
January 25th, 2011
9:05 pm
I MUST BE GETTING OLD!!!!!!! Thank you sooooooooooooo much Ms. Jill for being real and bringing us the news with a smile, you will be missed; but a well deserved retirement! God bless you and your family.
dagnabit
January 25th, 2011
9:15 pm
I watched Jill Becker for years and I missed her very much after Chumpley drove me from 11alive. Have a great retirement Jill.
bobo
January 25th, 2011
9:28 pm
hey sammy sung mu le u 2 funny.
NH
January 25th, 2011
9:30 pm
I watched her mostly in the early 90’s. She was on at noon. I remembered when she took off for her ill son. Not strikingly beautiful but just solid good person.
Dan
January 25th, 2011
9:40 pm
I agree with the comment about Chesley. I saw the noon show today and Cheryl Lemke did an awesome job. I really enjoyed seeing her in the field during the snow we had. She did a great job on The Weather Channel for years. I hope to see more of her in the future.
JNorton
January 25th, 2011
9:58 pm
So sorry to hear this; she’s a fixture on TV in Atlanta and I have loved to wake up with her my whole life as well as on NoonDay, etc. Best wishes to her and her family.
TVboy
January 25th, 2011
10:03 pm
i love how libs and do-gooders always start their posts by saying, ‘well i’m for free speech, BUT…’ yea we know what you’re saying — please shut up anyone who offends me in the least. ok, we get it. but as for jill, she’s great – but in fact she is getting on up there. time for some new blood. she would probably agree. i think karyn greer should go solo on that show and they should bring back live sports like they did not so many years ago. that is all
Johnboy
January 25th, 2011
10:11 pm
Does anyone know how old Jill is? My guess is 56
ed
January 25th, 2011
10:16 pm
Maybe the morning “ole timer” on WSB Radio will take a cue from Becker’s move and hang it up. Nobody is indispensable in broadcasting although there are a few who might think otheriwse about themselves. A changing market calls for changing faces and times.
WiseWoman
January 25th, 2011
10:19 pm
Love some Jill; Karen, too….but I stopped watching after the news director hired Nene for the morning news! Me thinks Ms. Jill said enough is enough. C-YA! LOL Meanwhile – Nene is asking someone to put together her audition tape as we write (not skilled enough to do it herself). Best wishes, Jill….do enjoy your retirement — you deserve it.
Chris
January 25th, 2011
10:19 pm
Oh no, what will we do? Who gives a rats ass? ALL Atlanta news people suck.
MediaHead
January 25th, 2011
10:58 pm
Jill is great anchor and will be missed. Good luck in your retirement, catch some fish for the Mediahead aka gumbyhead.
Mary
January 25th, 2011
11:07 pm
What a delightful lady. She will be tremendously missed. My best to her….enjoy retirement …it is great!
Richard
January 25th, 2011
11:07 pm
Sad to see her retire. I think either Jeff Hullinger or Keith Whitney would make a good morning co-anchor to Karyn.
My Two Cents
January 25th, 2011
11:40 pm
Woke up many mornings listening to her on Channel 1. Best of luck in your retirement. They are going to have a tough time finding someone who can walk in your shoes!
numbnuts
January 26th, 2011
12:14 am
Really hate to see you go, Jill…you’ve always done a great job!
gadgetgeel
January 26th, 2011
12:38 am
We love her.. Go and be what you want to be Jill..
gadgetgeek
January 26th, 2011
12:39 am
We love her.. Go and be what you want to be Jill..
Sam Sung
January 26th, 2011
12:53 am
See what happens when you offer an honest opinion? If said opinion does not coincide with the dumb masses, the personal attacks (at least what cretins think what might be personal) commence along with SCREAMED demands to: “Shut up!” Not to mention the cries for the ajc to censor what is nothing more than opinion contrary to the majority. Very well. Most of the lemmings here are just drooling fanboys over the uber-humanitaitarian and hell-competent Lady Dame Jill Becker. I, as you don’t have to guess, am not. And — send me the crap to hell — I said so. To boot, i was “mean” in how i expressed it. BFH. Jill Becker is too old to show her blotchy chest and wrinkled neck. It ALL shows up in nauseating deatils on HDTV. This is the plain truth. And, if it offends you (as it so obviously does), well, TFB.
tvBoy
January 26th, 2011
1:07 am
for real. i mean, unless you’re related to jill, why are you taking what is said about her so personally? its just an opinion. let someone have theirs and move on.
TheLazyComic
January 26th, 2011
1:16 am
I wonder if they’ll replace her with a… (GASP)… a male anchor. Ha ha ha. I was only joking people. We know that working males are a thing of the past.
never again
January 26th, 2011
1:32 am
Now that she is gone there is no reason at all to watch their news. It is overly simplistic, juvenile, and non informative
erubi
January 26th, 2011
5:31 am
Sam Sung, you obviously are visually stimulated…guess you wouldn’t have been one to tune into Uncle Walter Cronkite’s CBS evening news…his wrinkled face would have spoiled your dinner. There is so much more to broadcasting than looks..
SCY
January 26th, 2011
5:36 am
Every time one of these types of stories runs here comes the demons who can’t live unless they are deriding someone or making a nasty hate filled remark, for no purpose except to demonstrate what kind of evil there truly is in the world…its very disheartening and disgusting. What a poor excuse for a life some people must have….
ga girl
January 26th, 2011
6:46 am
I love Jill Becker. Can’t stomach Karyn Greer though and had to switch to channel 2.
B-Bro
January 26th, 2011
7:41 am
Thanks Jill for all the great years of your excellent work, you have always been great. Good luck on your retirement I’m sure you’ll find yourself with much more to do than before than when you were employed. If you hurry you can make the warm weather somewhere south for a few weeks
Tracy Franklin
January 26th, 2011
7:46 am
Wow what a shocker! I have woken up with Jill for the last 15 years. I wil really miss her. I vote for Julia Wolf to replace her.
Skipjack
January 26th, 2011
7:55 am
Watching Jill is like watching my next door neighbor do the news. Just a regular lady like someone you’d have over for dinner one night or at a neighborhood party. (Carol Sbarge is in the same league) Sad to see her go.
Valerie H..
January 26th, 2011
8:07 am
Best Wishes to Jill…I have always enjoyed watching her!
Sam
January 26th, 2011
8:07 am
Love Jill! I remember her waaaay back on Noonday – used to go home at lunch and watch her show. I even remember when she took a several months’ long leave when her son was sick. Just won’t be the same in the mornings without her.