CBS News Detroit Announces First Anchor Hirings And Community Impact EP

CBS News Detroit has hired anchors Shaina Humphries and Rachelle Graham, meteorologist Ahmad Bajjey, and executive producer of community impact Amyre Makupson. CBS News Detroit is the hyper-local streaming and broadcast news service that is being built from scratch and will be launched this fall by WWJ (CBS 62) and WKBD (CW50), the CBS-owned stations in Detroit.

Humphries, Graham and Bajjey are the first anchors hired by CBS News Detroit, a 24/7 streaming service that will feature live local news coverage from 4 a.m. to 11:35 p.m., Monday through Sunday, for a total of 137 hours per week. In addition, CBS 62 will broadcast live CBS News Detroit newscasts 40 hours per week in early morning, midday, early and late evenings.

CBS News Detroit will continue to recruit and hire. It said the reporting staff will consist of “a diverse team of journalists who will be embedded full-time in communities across the Detroit area, as well as at the state capital in Lansing, Mich.”

The creation of CBS News Detroit marks the first time WWJ will have its own full-scale local news department since becoming a CBS Television Network-owned station in 1995.

Shaina Humphries

Humphries is a Chicago area native who earned her master’s degree from the Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism and her bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Illinois. An Emmy Award winner, she most recently was a co-anchor of the weekday 5, 6, 10 and 11 p.m. newscasts at WTXF Philadelphia since February 2019. Prior to that, she was an anchor and reporter at KCCI Des Moines, Iowa.

Rachelle Graham

Graham, a Metro Detroit native, most recently anchored and reported for the NBC, Fox and CW affiliates in Flint, Mich., where she was nominated for a Michigan Regional Emmy Award for her reporting on the impact of lead exposure on children’s academic performance in Flint. She also anchored and reported for the CBS Television Network affiliate in Greenville, S.C., and was named Reporter of the Year by the South Carolina Broadcasters Association. After graduating cum laude from Central Michigan University with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast and cinematic arts and a minor in political science, Graham started her career as a multimedia journalist at WPTA Fort Wayne, Ind.

Ahmad Bajjey

Bajjey, a Dearborn, Mich., native, has spent the past nine-and-a-half years with the NBC, Fox and CW affiliates in Flint, Mich. He spent the past 17 months as the stations’ chief meteorologist. Bajjey has won awards for Best Weathercast from both The Associated Press and the Michigan Association of Broadcasters. Bajjey graduated from the meteorology program at Central Michigan University. In 2019, he was selected as one of 10 exceptional graduates from the past decade for contributions to their profession and to their community.

Amyre Makupson

Makupson, a Detroit native, is following in the footsteps of her mother of the same name, a news anchor at WKBD from 1975 to 2002. After earning her bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from Howard University and her master’s in mass communications from Wayne State University, she began her career in Lima, Ohio, where she worked for the CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox affiliates. Makupson then produced and anchored newscasts for stations in Macon and Albany, Ga. After that, she became the news director at WMUB with Mercer University’s Center for Collaborative Journalism and a partner correspondent for WMAZ Macon.

Brian Watson, WWJ-WKBD VP-GM, said:  “As we move forward with this unprecedented opportunity to build the newsroom of the future from the ground up and with a streaming-first mentality, we are excited to welcome Shaina, Rachelle, Ahmad and Amyre to CBS News Detroit. They are part of our growing team of grassroots journalists who will set the standard for community-focused news reporting in Detroit.”

Paul Pytlowany, news director of CBS News Detroit, said: “Credible local news coverage is more important than ever. Shaina, Rachelle, Ahmad and Amyre’s commitment to in-depth storytelling and weather coverage will be vital to our viewers. Their commitment is in alignment with our vision of turning neighborhoods into newsrooms and reflects their passion for creating original content for the communities we are honored to serve.”

CBS Stations President Adrienne Roark, who has worked closely with Watson and Pytlowany and their WWJ colleagues on developing the plan for creating CBS News Detroit, added: “It’s exciting to see CBS News Detroit starting to take shape. Our local leadership team, led by Brian and Paul, is doing an amazing job of executing on our vision as we write a new chapter in the history of local news. We look forward to continuing to add employees who want to part of something that will truly be special.”