In a heartfelt social media post, sports reporter Ashley Washburn announced that she’ll soon no longer be with WTMJ-TV (Channel 4).
She joined the Milwaukee NBC affiliate in September 2023. Her last day with the station will be Aug. 27.
The Milwaukee Business Journal reported that Shahji Adam will be joining TMJ4 as a sports reporter on Aug. 28. He was most recently a sports anchor with KXXV (like WTMJ, an E.W. Scripps Co. station) in Waco, Texas.
“These past three years have been nothing short of incredible, and I can’t thank this city enough for welcoming me with open arms,” Washburn said in her post.
Her highlights have included covering the Milwaukee Brewers’ three straight National League Central Division championships − predicting “soon to be four” − as well as reporting from the sidelines at Green Bay Packers games.
“Every day has felt like a blessing to call this state home — especially getting the opportunity to share YOUR stories,” Washburn wrote.
“While this chapter is ending sooner than I had hoped, I’m still incredibly grateful to TMJ4 for taking a chance on me and allowing me to work in such a diehard sports state like Wisconsin,” she said. “My heart has always been in the Midwest, but who knew it would really be Milwaukee.”
While Washburn is “not entirely sure what’s next,” she wrote, she knows “God is good” and she has “all the faith in the world that His plan is a good one.”
Washburn, who’s from San Diego, studied journalism at San Diego State University, according to her TMJ4 bio.
She joined KBZK-TV (MTN News) in Bozeman, Montana, in 2020. She was hired to be a sports/news multimedia journalist, but was ultimately promoted to sports director and served as the sideline reporter for Montana State University’s football and basketball broadcasts on ESPN+ and statewide Scripps channels.
After about three years with KBZK, Washburn joined TMJ4 as a sports reporter.
Adam, a Texas native, attended the University of North Texas, where he studied Converged Broadcast Media, according to his KXXV bio.
In 2021, Adam joined WTOK-TV in Meridian, Mississippi, as sports director and sports anchor, covering SEC football, including the Allstate Sugar Bowl, the Egg Bowl, as well as two baseball national championships: Ole Miss and Mississippi State. In May 2023, he became a sports anchor for KXXV.
Adam announced he was leaving Waco in an Aug. 7 social media post. He called his more than three years there “the most impactful period” of his life.
“I’ve met some of the most wonderful people and the growth I’ve had is because of those people around me and I’m grateful for them,” he wrote. “Thank you Central Texas .”
Other recent staffing changes at TMJ4 have included:
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: TMJ4’s Ashley Washburn leaving as new sports reporter arrives
Reporting by Hannah Kirby, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Hannah Kirby, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
