Mike McCarthy named 5 p.m. anchor at ABC 6 in Columbus

March was a big month for Mike McCarthy. The 2007 journalism graduate was named the 5 p.m. news anchor on WSYX/ABC6 TV in Columbus.

“I was a reporter for Good Day Columbus for the last 15 years,” said McCarthy. “It’s a big change, but a great opportunity.”

McCarthy grew up in Marysville, Ohio and initially came to ��Ƶ to study film. But it didn’t take him long to figure out that it wasn’t the right major for him.

“There are things in life that sometimes fall into place, and you don’t understand how or why or what’s happening,” said McCarthy. “But while taking a first level video production course, I just realized this wasn’t for me. It wasn’t clicking like I thought it would.”

McCarthy discovered his interest in broadcast journalism while working on the production side, running cameras for various student-led shows.

“After one taping, I had a conversation with another student who was doing the on-air work and asked what she was majoring in. She told me she was in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism and that got me interested in exploring journalism.”

McCarthy was accepted into the journalism school and quickly got involved with on-air reporting at WOUB. He began on the radio, writing stories and anchoring radio newscasts. He eventually worked his way into television reporting and anchoring for NewsWatch.

“It was an incredible experience,” said McCarthy. “The thing that’s so wonderful about WOUB and the experience you get there is the people who are involved. There’s so much teaching, leading and mentoring from professionals that have so much direct knowledge of what the broadcast media world is like. You may not understand it at the time, but when you get your first job, it all makes sense.”

After graduation, McCarthy got a multimedia journalist position at WVLT TV in Knoxville, Tennessee. After about three years, he was hired at ABC 6 in Columbus and has been there ever since. McCarthy has won 25 Emmy Awards and The Ohio Associated Press has awarded him multiple honors, including "Best TV Reporter" in 2012 and runner-up in 2014. He also has been ranked among the top solo video journalists in the country by the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA). McCarthy has been featured on Fox News, CNN, and HLN.

“Without taking anything away from the education I got, and it WAS the best education I could have gotten to prepare me for my career, what I do to this day is what I learned at WOUB,” said McCarthy. “That hands on experience with equipment, the mentoring, the working under deadlines and learning to work as a team, there is no other experience that compares. I am truly grateful for that.”

Learn more about WOUB.

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