KARK A "Step Up" For New Anchor

Source: Arkansas Business KARK-TV, Channel 4, didn’t waste any time filling the vacancy on its weeknight anchor desk.The station announced last week that Jancey Sheats, most recently a news anchor at the Beaumont, Texas, ABC affiliate KBMT-TV, had joined the station to co-anchor the 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. weekday newscasts.

Little Rock is several steps up for Sheats. The Beaumont market is rated No. 138 with 168,740 television homes by Nielsen Media Research; Little Rock is rated No. 57 with 531,770 homes.

Sheats is originally from Baytown, Texas, just outside Houston. She began her television news career in Austin, working for CBS affiliate KEYE and NBC affiliate KXAN. She became an anchor/reporter at CBS’ KXII in Sherman, Texas, before moving to Beaumont as KBMT’s 5 p.m. news anchor.

Sheats replaces Denise Whitaker, a KARK veteran who most recently co-anchored with Bob Clausen. Whitaker signed off Dec. 1 and packed her bags for Fisher Communications Inc.’s KOMO-TV, Channel 4, in Seattle, where she’ll be the ABC affiliate’s morning news anchor.