Lori grew up in the town of Cheektowaga, NY outside of Buffalo. She became a full-time intern at Continental Cable during the last half of her senior year in high school, doing everything from producing and directing a half-hour show to graphics to voice-overs to running camera for Junior Sabres hockey games, Buffalo Bisons baseball games and various high school basketball games, as well as local public access shows like “On the Town” and “Cooking with Chan”.
Lori moved to Jacksonville in July of 1979 and started at what was then just WTLV in September of 1979 as a part-time studio camera operator. She was promoted to full-time camera and Chyron operator in 1980. Lori got her 2nd Class FCC license and became an operations engineer in 1983. She was “On the Board” for numerous historic events including the Challenger disaster, 9/11 and Columbine, as well as election nights and Olympics. She was also the Master Control Operator who “pressed the button” to put WJXX on the air in 2000 as a part of the duopoly that became First Coast News, On Your Side.
In 2016, Lori was promoted to Programming and Operations Manager. She now oversees the distribution of schedules for 15 First Coast News stations (including sub-channels), keeps track of Children’s Programming and Issues Reports for the FCC, and maintains the EEO and I-9 files for First Coast News, among many other duties. In 2017, she was awarded the prestigious Gracia Martore Unsung Hero Award by our parent company, TEGNA.
In her free time, Lori enjoys reading, baking and traveling. She met her husband, John, on her second day of work, they have been married over 40 years and have 2 children! Fun fact…not only did Lori’s husband work here, but so did her mom, her dad and her brother at different times throughout her career!
