Popular WLOX-TV news anchor announces retirement from South MS station. Farewell planned

WLOX-TV news anchor Karen Abernathy is retiring after a 39-year career in broadcast journalism.

“I’m not going to cry today because I have two more weeks to go,” Abernathy told her co-anchor, David Elliott, who joined her for the announcement this week on the WLOX 4 O’Clock Show. Abernathy’s last broadcast will be at 5 p.m. on Aug. 2

“It’s exciting,” she said. “I”m nervous, excited and it’s sad, too.”

The South Mississippi news station will celebrate her career starting July 29 on the 4 o’clock Show. Abernathy also has served as WLOX’s health reporter.

Before joinIng WLOX, Abernathy worked at WAPT in Jackson, while Elliott was at WJTV in the capital city. They both started work at WLOX in 1985 and have always been an anchor team, her station biography says.

Abernathy and Elliott were also inducted together into the Mississippi Broadcast Hall of Fame.

Abernathy has been known during her time at WLOX not only for anchoring the news but also for her health reporting, which covered many topics. She shared stories of South Mississippi residents treated at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital each year as she hosted the Mississippi Gulf Coast St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway.

Off camera, Abernathy enjoys community theater and singing.

Anita Lee

Sun Herald

601-909-0638

Anita, a Mississippi native, graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Southern Mississippi and previously worked at the Jackson Daily News and Virginian-Pilot, joining the Sun Herald in 1987. She specializes in in-depth coverage of government, public corruption, transparency and courts. She has won state, regional and national journalism awards, most notably contributing to Hurricane Katrina coverage awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in Public Service. Support my work with a digital subscription