Kate Siefert Leaving WWMT – Headed to Her Home State of Ohio for New Television Job

WWMT NewsChannel 3 Anchor Kate Siefert has announced that she is leaving West Michigan and will begin a new broadcasting job in her home state of Ohio. Her last day with the television station is Friday, January 21. She will begin work at a television station in Columbus soon.

Kate has only been with WWMT for a little over two years, but in that short amount of time, has quickly become a familiar face in the region, thanks in part to her personable and inviting reporting style.

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She was kind enough to let us ask her some questions about what it's like to work on local television and how she ended up pursuing a career in it, among other things.

Kate is originally from Cleveland, Ohio, and says she was not someone who watched the news as a child and thought that she would see herself on television someday. But it was watching sports coverage and her participation in sports that started to pique her interest in broadcasting.

I loved watching ESPN and the reporters who conducted the post-game interviews. I grew up a big sports fan and was also an athlete myself. I started playing volleyball when I was in fourth grade and that became my life. I played in high school (2012 State Champs! Yes, I'm still living in my high school glory days) I played at Ashland University, a D-II GLIAC school. I went there to play volleyball but found myself in a ton of journalism classes and soon enough that became my major. I got involved in their sports broadcasts and that led me to my very first job after I graduated in 2017.

Kate began as a sports reporter at a television station in Steubenville, Ohio, located near the borders of West Virginia and Pennsylvania. As is often the case in smaller markets, she moved around quite a bit in different roles at the station and during her final months there, became one of their morning anchors.

She says her transition from Steubenville to West Michigan was quite simple. Her contract was coming to an end and there was a job opening at WWMT. Kate began as the noon and 5:30 anchor in December 2019. And like all of us, she never would have imagined what 2020 was going to bring to the table a short time later.

Clearly the two years I've been in West Michigan have been two of the most difficult years for our nation. The job of a news anchor/reporter felt so much more important to me these last two years knowing there were so many people looking to us for answers. It was an honor working in West Michigan as all of us navigated through this unprecedented time together.

We asked Kate about some of her most fond and significant moments during her time here. One thing she says she will never forget is when President Joe Biden came to Portage to visit the Pfizer plant in 2021. She also was able to get back into her sports roots a little bit by covering the 2020 and 2021 high school football seasons for WWMT.

Friday nights in the fall were my favorite days of the week. I had such a blast working with the amazing administrators, coaches, and athletes in West Michigan.

One thing that many of us in broadcasting, radio, or television, get asked is what it is like in the studio, behind the scenes, and during those commercial breaks. So we weren't going to let Kate go without pulling back the curtain a little bit.

Maybe this isn't shocking ... But working in this business isn't usually very glamorous. Growing up an athlete, hair, and makeup was never my thing and it still isn't. You can count on me wearing tennis shoes until the very final second before the show starts or during the show if I can avoid my feet being seen on camera.

 

We also wanted to know who the biggest inspiration has been in her career and she says that it would be hard to narrow it down to one.

Every step in my journey in this industry will introduce me to a handful of well-seasoned anchors/reporters I can learn from on a daily basis. (Fellow WWMT on-air talent) Andy Dominianni, Erica Mokay and Keith Thompson have become close friends during my last two years here. But they were also such great mentors and helped me continue to grow and shape my craft.

 

Something people may not know about the TV business is that it is SUCH a team effort. When you are watching a show you typically see the anchor, the meteorologist and a reporter sprinkled in here and there. But there are dozens of other people behind the scenes helping to make the show great. They are the ones who deserve all the praise!

So as we say goodbye to Kate Siefert as she heads from Michigan to Ohio, we wish her nothing but the best as her adventure in broadcasting continues. She's not too bad, for a Buckeye. ;)

But in all seriousness, we thank Kate for taking the time to talk with us and for the great work keeping residents in West Michigan informed for the past two years at WWMT. And we also want to get you prepared, Kate. Here are some of the craziest stories out of the state of Ohio in 2021...