Popular Raleigh-Durham News Anchor Tisha Powell Headed to the News Desk at WAFB-TV Baton Rouge

Louisiana native and veteran journalist Tisha Powell will join the WAFB 9NEWS team, station Vice President and General Manager Joe Sciortino has announced.

Beginning Aug. 9, Tisha will join Elizabeth Vowell in anchoring the station’s 4 p.m. newscast and will then join Greg Meriwether on the anchor desk for WAFB 9NEWS at 5 p.m.

MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENTS:
I start at @WAFB next week AND…@Popeyes has new nuggets! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 pic.twitter.com/SsxwRdSIO7

— Tisha Powell (@MsTishaPowell) August 4, 2021

Tisha, who was born on Bayou LaFourche in Thibodaux, La., is a graduate of H.L. Bourgeois High School and Loyola University New Orleans where she majored in broadcast news and minored in political science.

“I am honored to be able to work for a station that I grew up watching as a child,” Tisha said. “I am humbled to be able to work in the studio where Donna Britt worked for 37 years to bring you the news with class and grace. I look forward to working with the staff and crew here at WAFB to bring you the news with integrity, befitting the legacy of this station and worthy of the trust that viewers place in us when they welcome us into their homes every day.”

Tisha started her career in journalism as a reporter and producer for WCBI-TV in Columbus, Miss. She then went on to New Orleans to work for WDSU-TV where she traveled to Honduras to cover the devastation of Hurricane Mitch.

When her husband, an officer in the U.S. Army, was relocated to San Antonio. Tisha joined the news team at KABB-TV where she was an anchor and health reporter. While there, she covered the escape of the Texas Seven and the Spurs 2003 NBA Championship.

Tisha most recently worked as a main anchor and reporter for WTVD-TV in the Raleigh and Durham metro area of North Carolina. During her 16 years there, she traveled back to New Orleans to cover Hurricane Katrina. She also reported on the UNC Tar Heels’ trip to the Final Four, the Pope’s visit to Philadelphia, the Carolina Panthers trip to Super Bowl 50, and interviewed notable figures such as North Carolina governor Roy Cooper, Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, and Dr. Jill Biden. Tisha has also jumped with the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team in Laurinburg, North Carolina.

Moving day with my crew! Time to pull out of NC. Louisiana bound!🖤⚜️💜🐊💛🦐💚 pic.twitter.com/tPHcrPs25g

— Tisha Powell (@MsTishaPowell) July 24, 2021

And that’s a wrap! Thank you @ABC11_WTVD for 17 wonderful years! pic.twitter.com/d3bNGzBFlU

— Tisha Powell (@MsTishaPowell) June 30, 2021

Powell left her previous news anchor position in Raleigh to spend more time with her family and the opportunity to move back to her native Louisiana. In the midst of the stay at home order during the pandemic, Powell came to a realization that the hours away from her children and husband was no longer a sacrifice she wanted to make. After returning to the Baton Rouge area she was offered a part-time anchoring position at 9News WAFB-TV after declining a full time position. Her former station ABC11 hired ex-Philadelphia news anchor Lauren Johnson as her replacement.

She said that part-time anchor jobs just don’t happen, “Honestly, I didn’t think this was possible,” she told The News-Observer. 

“A lot of people don’t get the opportunity to work part-time anchoring,” she said. “They approached me and asked if I would be willing to work full-time and I said no — if I wanted to do that, I wouldn’t have left the job I had!”