Goodbye Candice Hunter, Emily Longnecker

After subbing for Channel 5 anchor Sheree Paolello, Candice Hunter has landed a full-time anchor job in Dayton. Hunter anchors her last Channel 5 newscasts at 5, 5:30 and 6 p.m. today, as her contract expires, before joining Sinclair's Dayton duopoly, WKEF-TV (Channel 22) and WRGT-TV (Channel 45).

Hunter will be the main co-anchor at 6, 10 and 11 p.m. for the Dayton stations, says Brennan Donnellan, Channel 5 news director. Pat Casey, the Ch. 22/45 news director (and former Fox 19 news director), declined to confirm that, saying a station announcement will come next week.

Hunter, who came here from Lexington, has been a versatile employee at Channel 5. She's worked some six-day weeks, filling in on the desk for Paolello (who returns from maternity leave Monday) and reporting the top story at 11 p.m.

"She’s a good reporter. She's a good anchor," Donnellan says. "We wanted to keep her, but she sees Dayton as a good opportunity for her."

The same goes for Longnecker, who appears on her final newscasts this weekend as her contract expires too. She will become a reporter at WTHR-TV (Channel 13) in Indianapolis, a larger market.

"We wanted Emily to stay, but she has what she thought was a better offer," Donnellan says.

Already one of the positions has been filled. Kristina Cruise, a reporter-anchor from Charlottesville, Va., arrives in mid-October to be a reporter and fill-in anchor, Donnellan says.