This is posted Friday, December 9, 2016 by Rodney Ho on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Gloria Neal, the recently departed CBS46 morning anchor, confirmed on a Facebook Live video Friday (WATCH BELOW) that she left the station on her own after 17 months but didn't specify why.
At the same time, she implied she was forced to leave by internal management pressure and alluded to possible legal action down the road.
“No, I was not fired from CBS46 news," Neal said. "As a matter of fact, I had to leave CBS46 news. However the circumstances there were really one that was continually about... circumstances that were causing me no alternative but to resign. I will leave it at that."
Although she left voluntarily, she said she is "by no means I am a quitter."
"For those who know what's in the works for me, legally or otherwise, then you know that," she said. "We will let that process take its course."
Without being specific, she said what transpired at the station was "most unfortunate and inexplicable."
The tone of the five-minute video is dead serious from beginning to end, with an edge of anger at times.
"I stand up for what I believe in and you know when I take a stand, it is about that," she continued. "I am not frivolous nor am I fake. I might be new to Atlanta, but I am not new to me."
"I would not endanger or speak hostility or be mean," she added. "I kept what challenges I was having private because I wanted to make sure those who were involved with that was just that. Private. I am a professional. I have worked my entire career on being a professional. I have integrity. I have always put you the viewer first."
Neal came to CBS46 last year from a long run in Denver as a TV as part of a major staff overhaul at the CBS affiliate. She told the Denver Post at the time that CBS46 management wants "a morning show anchor in the way that I want to anchor news, which is not the traditional way." She called it "the opportunity of a lifetime."
She said on the video that the Atlanta community has made her feel welcome. "I'm not going to repay that by being petty, by being silly, by being anything but a consummate professional. When I came to this market, I came to make a difference," she said.
Neal, who goes by "Glo," then mentioned obliquely that individuals "have stepped to me and said things that were inappropriate. I am extremely pleased who Glo is. She knows who she is and what she stands for."
Frank Volpicella, the news director who has been at the station for about four months, declined to comment. Volpicella worked at an Austin ABC affiliate for nearly 16 years before coming to Atlanta over the summer, replacing Larry Peret.
The station announced on Wednesday that former Fox 5 anchor Amanda Davis was taking Neal's morning spot starting January 2. It's unclear if that news compelled Neal to post her FB video. I sent her a text tonight but have not heard back. (She didn't respond to a call or text after she left last month.)
UPDATE: she took the video down at some point after I posted this.
Neal said she would like to stay in Atlanta and is willing to commute for the time being if something comes up elsewhere.
At the end of the video, thanked her fans for her support. "For the short period of time I've been here, you have all stepped up," she said. "Let's keep pushin' y'all." Then she quoted Michelle Obama from the recent presidential campaign: "When they go low, we go high."
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