Dave Wagner Dropping Anchor in North Carolina

Dave Wagner leaving Channel 5 to anchor in Charlotte, N.C., comes as no surprise. I didn't expect him to stay around for long after losing his 11 p.m. WLWT-TV anchor job two years ago.

Not only is he moving on, but he's moving up. Wagner will co-anchor the 5, 6 and 11 p.m. news at NBC affiliate WCNC-TV in Charlotte, the nation's No. 25 TV market. Cincinnati is No. 33.

Here's the WCNC-TV announcement:

http://www.wcnc.com/news/topstories/stories/wcnc-033108-krg-davewagner.1c102613.html

Wagner came to Channel 5 in September, 1999, from Tampa, Fla., to replace anchor Charlie Luken, who had resigned in June after six years to run for Cincinnati City Council. Wagner has co-anchored here with Norma Rashid, Anne Marie Tiernon and Sandra Ali.

Two years ago, Wagner returned to investigative reporting when Ali and Sheree Paolello became the city's first all-female co-anchor team at 11 p.m.

In 2005, Wagner and Ali had the station's best 11 p.m. news ratings since Jerry Springer and Rashid co-anchored in 1992, when Springer was doing both news and his syndicated daytime talk show. The Wagner-Ali team was second at 11 p.m. behind WKRC-TV (Channel 12) in May 2005.

Wagner has won 32 Regional Emmy Awards, four regional Edward R. Murrow Awards and numerous honors from the Associated Press and Society for Professional Journalists. He also is currently directing a documentary on the world's only known identical twin savant sisters. The documentary is scheduled to air this fall on the Discovery Network and Great Britain’s Channel 5, according to the WCNC-TV announcement today.

Wagner was born in Marion, Ohio, and grew up in Columbus and Dayton. He worked for stations in Lexington, Columbus, Milwaukee and Tampa. He had spent 12 years at Tampa’s WTSP-TV before coming to Channel 5.

He also has done some acting, appearing as a sportscaster in Adam Sandler's "The Waterboy" and as a newscaster on HBO's "From The Earth To The Moon."