WSB radio’s longtime overnight anchor Mark Alewine finished his final newscast Thursday, ending a 24-year career at the news/talk station. He also provided new stories for Scott Slade during the morning newscast.
Alewine, 55, joined the station, heard now on 95.5 FM as well as AM 750, in May 1996, and took over as the overnight anchor in 1999 where he has remained ever since.
Alewine said he believed the radio station eliminated his position as a cost-cutting move. At 11:30 p.m. Thursday night, the first without Alewine, WSB used a national news update from a CBS News Radio Network anchor Lisa Mateo. Drew Anderssen, program director for WSB, provided this statement: “We do not comment on employee matters. WSB is committed to delivering our award-winning, trusted and quality journalism each and every day.”
On his Facebook page this morning, Alewine said he will take “a lifetime of memories with me” and thanked WSB news director Chris Camp for “his unwavering support since day one." He also thanked the listeners, including people in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark who picked up the AM 750 signal over the years.
“It has truly been my distinct honor and privilege to say ‘Depend on It’ while working at the best radio station on the planet!” he wrote.
In an interview Thursday morning, Alewine said he hopes to find radio work elsewhere and will have a studio built in his house so he can also do voice-over work. He said the station provided him a generous severance package, so he won’t hunt for work until 2021.
He said over his 21 years doing overnights, he had 23 different traffic reporters work with him.
Slade, WSB’s veteran morning host, called Alewine “my morning man... I could always count on him to tell me what was going on in a factual, no-nonsense way. I depended on him like so many others to fill us in on the craziness that can happen in the overnights... He set the standard for the rest of us, every day. I hope our paths will cross again in the future."
Alewine was born and raised in Georgia, growing up in a small town Royston near the South Carolina border. He got his first radio job at a Royston station at age 15. After graduating from Tri County Technical College in Pendleton, South Carolina, he worked at WGAU and WNGC in Athens, then WDUN in Gainesville before joining WSB at age 31.
About the Author
