Kayla Binette, who had been a news reporter at WLBZ TV NBC Channel 2 in Bangor, will be the new sports anchor at WLBZ on Friday and Saturday evenings.
She will be a news reporter three days a week.
She replaces Johnny Mehler, who was promoted to sister station WCSH NBC Channel 6 in Portland last month. Mehler joined WCSH sports director/anchor Lee Goldberg and is the weekend sports anchor/reporter.
Mehler replaced former WLBZ/WCSH sports anchor/reporter Jessica Gagne, who became the early morning weekend news anchor at WCSH 6. Gagne is also a reporter during the week.
The 25-year-old Binette joined the WLBZ staff in January.
Goldberg said the move has followed a recent trend at WCSH/WLBZ which has seen young reporters start in news and then move on to sports. Gagne and Mehler both started out in news before sliding over to sports.
“It seems to be a natural progression,” said Goldberg. “All these recent changes have happened quickly. We threw her into the mix on the Fifth Quarter two Friday nights ago and she handled herself fine. I don’t have any worries about her at all.”
The Fifth Quarter is a sports segment dedicated to high school football that runs on Friday and Saturday nights.
“My passion has always been sports. I’ve played sports since I was eight years old. And now I’ll finally be able to do sports. I also enjoy news so to be able to do both is amazing. I’m really glad they’ve given me this opportunity,” said Biddeford native Binette, who has a bachelor’s degree in contemporary journalism from Endicott College (Mass.) and a master’s degree in broadcast and digital journalism from Syracuse University (N.Y.).
She played volleyball, basketball and softball in high school and also played on the club ice hockey team her senior year. She also played volleyball for a year at Endicott.
She served as a sports intern at WSYR-TV in Syracuse and went to work as a news anchor-reporter at news/talk radio station WGAN 560 AM in Portland before coming to WLBZ.
Binette said she enjoys living in the Bangor area and noted that both Goldberg and Mehler have been “very helpful.”
“Lee has been in the business forever and Johnny was in Bangor so he knows the ropes around here. I’ve been having a lot of fun,” said Binette.