Sean Streaty
He’s WAND News Anchor at 5, 6 and 10 and a Decatur native. Sean Sreaty graduated from St. Teresa High School and received his degree in Radio and Television from Southern Illinois University - Carbondale.
Sean joined WSOY Radio (Decatur) as a reporter. In 1992 he was appointed WSOY News Director. He moved to television in 1994 when he joined WAND as a reporter and eventually became weekend Anchor. In 1996, he was named as the evening news Anchor.
Sean serves on the Decatur Boys and Girls Club as Board President. He has served on the Catholic Charities Board, United Way Allocation Committee, Macon County Conservation Board, American Heart Association, and is a frequent Master of Ceremonies of community events. Sean has also been named among Reader's Choice Award top winners for Best Local TV Personality. He is also an AP award winner for best newscast in a medium market for tornado coverage.
Sean contributes to the news with story writing, reporting, and ideas from the community. He has also highlighted more than 250 locally owned businesses in his featured Business Watch.
He and his wife Amy have two children, Brandon and Ashley, a grandson Princeton and a Ragdoll Cat named Max.
Fred Gamble
For 48 years, Fred Gamble has been 'Coverage You Can Count On' in Texarkana.
Wayne Smith, Texarkana mayor, remembers the first time he met Fred, when he returned to Texarkana and ran for public office. "He is a great person and he represents the TV industry in an exceptional manner," said Smith. "Fred Gamble is probably Mr. TV in Texarkana."
Gamble started in the TV news business in 1973, he says by accident. He went to college, majoring in music and minoring in math. He he had to leave college to get a job. It turns out, being a reporter/photojournalist has been Fred’s first and only job.
He started at KTAL in Texarkana in 1973. He was the first person of color on-air there. He joined the KSLA team in 1986 and has worked at the station non-stop ever since. His coverage area is Texarkana and the surrounding counties in northeast Texas and southwest Arkansas.
Fred Gamble has just about seen it all: police raids, stand offs, fires, snow-storms and flooding.
On the political front, Gamble has been on the beat with more presidential candidates in Texarkana than anyone other reporter. His favorite stories however are about giving back.
"You get more satisfaction in helping the 80 year old lady get her lights turned on than death and destruction," said Gamble.
Fred Gamble is arguably the most recognized TV journalist in person who's not actually seen regularly on TV. And he likes it that way. He’s a very humble person and does not like to be in the spotlight. Very rarely will you see him on-camera. Working behind the scenes is where he likes to be.
Retirement isn’t on the horizon for Gamble. Texarkana’s favorite son is here to stay telling more stories for a long, long time. "Like Martin Luther King always said, longevity pays off," said Gamble.
John Paul
John Paul, often known as “JP,” is a veteran Illinois TV broadcaster and journalism instructor.
He spent over 40 years in TV, radio and journalism education.
John’s interest in journalism started as a teenager delivering newspapers in his hometown of Peoria. He attended the University of Illinois and worked as a reporter and anchor at the college radio station, WPGU. He has degrees in Radio-and-Television and a master’s in journalism. He was hired at WCIA-TV in Champaign right out of college as a reporter and weekend anchor. He rose through the ranks to become producer, executive producer, elections producer and eventually, news director. After nearly 25 years at WCIA, he worked eight years at WILL-TV in Urbana as a producer, show host, debate moderator and documentarian.
John was hired as a part-time, then full-time, journalism “lecturer” at the University of Illinois in 1997. He has taught classes in newscast production, TV storytelling, reporting, broadcast voice, sports journalism and some graduate level classes. In his two decades as a teacher, his college students consistently rated him among the “excellent instructors” on the UI campus. He served on the board of directors for the Illini Media Company, which oversees student media at the
U of I.
John has been a member of the Illinois News Broadcasters Association since 1974. He was chair and co-chair of the Mid-America Emmys Board of Governors education committee for 11 years.
John was nominated for an Emmy in 2009 as co-producer of a historical documentary titled “True illini Spirit” about the history of Memorial Stadium at the University of Illinois.
For many years, he proudly presented dozens of NATAS high school awards and scholarships at the annual EMMY gala.
John is married and has two adult children. He retired in 2018.
Judy Fraser
Judy Fraser came to WCIA in 1976, after getting her start at an NBC affiliate in Madison, Wis., and a CBS affiliate in Boston.
Fraser said she got a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1962, "when television was still a toddler."
She started out in Madison as the "Romper Room" lady and hostess for the afternoon movie. When management asked her to become a weather anchor, she went back to school and became a National Weather Service apprentice.
In Boston, she was one of three hosts for the morning show, providing weather segments.
At WCIA, she introduced several folksy concepts, examining woolly worms and persimmon pits to figure out how bad winter would be.
"It was a way to make a personal connection," she said. "I always wanted to connect with people."
In that spirit, she observed "Hoo Dee Hoo Day" as an annual ritual for those tired of winter and ready for spring. The event sometimes attracted more than 300 people to local parks, where they would cry "Hoo Dee Hoo."
"I got a call from the BBC some years ago," Fraser said, "and someone said to me in a very British voice, 'Would you happen to be the Hoo Dee Hoo Lady?'" I thought, "Oh, Lord, what a thing to be known for!'"
The BBC was putting together a documentary on unusual holidays around the world, and someone in Seattle mentioned a lady in the Midwest who celebrated Hoo Dee Hoo Day. Tapes of Fraser's annual event ended up being part of the documentary.
Because of her familiar face, Fraser has the opportunity to connect with people virtually every time she's out in public. "To me, it's such an honor," she said. "This is the reason I got to do my job for so many years. It's because of those people. I need to spend time with them. It's important to let them know that I'm just a real person, and we can talk about our families."
Fraser has spent countless hours in classrooms, service clubs, hospitals, nursing homes, parades and community events, all to give back to the community she so loves. She retired in 2011 after 35 years reporting the weather to WCIA viewers. Judy enjoys spending time with her husband, children and grandchildren Griffin, Emma and Jack.
Bill Evans
Bill Evans is vice president of the West Kentucky Media Group for Paxton Media Group. In this role he is vice president & general manager of NBC affiliate WPSD in Paducah, KY and publisher of six newspapers including the company’s flagship daily paper, The Paducah Sun. He also leads the digital news & sales teams at all seven of these properties.
Bill joined PMG in 1997 as news director for WPSD. He was promoted to VP of News & Operations, and later GM. In 2018 the Paxton family asked him to step into the newspaper business.
Bill considers himself a journalist above all else. His journalism career spans forty years as a radio reporter, TV sports anchor, TV reporter & anchor, TV newscast producer, executive producer, and news director. He has interviewed Presidents, covered post-war activities in Kuwait, produced documentaries and long-form special programming in the U.S. and China. He has led newsrooms through some of the biggest spot news situations found in local TV news—deadly severe weather and mass casualty school shootings.
Bill and his newsrooms have been recognized with many awards including EMMYs, regional RTDNAs, and the AP’s overall excellence award every year since 2016.
Bill believes in “service above self,” and lives that by donating his time to the Rotary Club, United Way, and mentoring through the school systems and the Oscar Cross Boys & Girls Club. He does annual volunteer work at a medical mission in Peru founded by a member of his extended family.
At this point in his career Bill focuses on mentoring journalists. He is extremely proud of the young people who come through his newsroom and then move on to fulfill their dreams in our industry. He’s particularly fond of this old saying:
“Society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”
― Anonymous Greek Proverb
Bill married Susan a long time ago and are parents to many loving fur babies. His passion is long-distance backpacking and getting away from cell phones.