Why this longtime Charlotte TV host is leaving — and the beer he needs to drink before he goes
By the looks of things, it might appear as though longtime WCCB-TV personality Derek James is making a speedy exit from Charlotte.
And in some respects, he is.
Late last Friday morning, the 42-year-old co-host of morning show “WCCB News Rising” made a surprise announcement via social media that he would be leaving the station after 18 years to take an anchoring and reporting job at the CBS affiliate in Minneapolis. On Wednesday, the movers are coming. On Thursday, he and his wife, Kristen, will close on the sale of their house here. Then, after his final show Friday, they’ll get in their cars with their two sons and their Staffordshire Terrier to set out for the 1,200-mile trek to the Twin Cities.
So, needless to say, James’s last few days in Charlotte are going to be a whirlwind.
“I’m actually glad that we’re talking now,” he said by phone Monday afternoon, laughing and sounding overwhelmed at the same time. “Because there’s a two-goal Pop-A-Shot above our garage in the playroom that’s the massive project we’ve been putting off. So I was like, ‘Well, let me do this thing with the Observer and then I’ll start to figure out how to take this thing apart!’”
But while it may seem like James is in an unusually big hurry to get out of town, he started talking to Minneapolis’ WCCO about a job almost three months ago and he’s actually been toying for years with the idea of moving his family closer to his aging mother and his three siblings, all of four of whom live in relatively nearby parts of his home state of Wisconsin.
And, well, frankly, he has really, really liked working at WCCB.
Here are the main things that stood out to us about our friendly exit interview with James, who has been in Charlotte since he landed a part-time radio gig at WLNK-FM in 2000 at the age of just 20. (He turns 43 on Sept. 3.)
1. On the timing being pretty perfect for his family. “In recent years, I’d kept an eye on what was happening in the Midwest, to see if there was something that might be a good fit to get closer to home, with my mom being at her age. She lives alone (about two hours away from the suburb James and his wife have bought a house in), she has her own place; but she’s 79. ... When you look at the cost of flying, and you look at all the logistics ... that’s the thing, is just not being there enough. Yes, there’s FaceTime, and there’s talking on the phone. But it’s not the same.
“And we figured if we were gonna do anything, it was gonna have to be before the boys went into high school,” said James, who has 11- and 14-year-old sons who are rising sixth- and eighth-graders. Another plus: The move isn’t interrupting a school year, meaning less disruption for both the kids and his wife Kristen, who until recently was the choral director at Providence High School.
“You get bites all the time, you talk to people in other places. Last fall I had interest from one of the national news networks that’s based in the Midwest, and that just didn’t end up being the right thing. That’s good, because I think this might be a better opportunity.”
2. On what he’s leaving behind. “It definitely was,” James said, asked if making the decision to walk away from Charlotte and WCCB was difficult. “(A) morning (show) obviously is something that I think fits what I do, because I can roll with the harder stuff, the lighter stuff, pretty much whatever the tone of the day or moment is. I think the ‘radio’ in me has given me that ability.”
His most memorable moments? “Being able to do ‘The Snark (Report)‘ was really cool” — that’s the daily segment in which he mocks Hollywood and entertainment — “the fact that I started that thing almost nine years ago and they still let me do it every morning was pretty crazy. ... Meeting Anderson Cooper and sitting down and doing a one-on-one with ... Simon Cowell and Britney Spears,” back in the days when Cowell and Spears were judges on “American Idol” for Fox and WCCB was a Fox affiliate.
“I mean, heck, I freakin’ grew up at that TV station. I went from single guy to married to dad with two kids. It’s crazy when you think about everything that happened in that time period while I was on TV (here).”
As for the main thing James wants to do before he leaves town, he said, through fits of laughter: “This is gonna make me sound like a typical drunk Wisconsin person, but I have to have a drink at OMB (Olde Mecklenburg Brewery). Copper is my drink and has been for many years, so I’m trying to figure out how much of that I can hide or pack into one of the vehicles as we go up there, because that’s gonna be tough for me.
“I’m sure everyone’s gonna appreciate that. ‘Oh! He’s gonna miss his beer.’ But anybody who knows me knows that is absolutely true.”
3. On his new role at WCCO-TV, which officially starts the day after Labor Day. “I’ll be doing some solo anchoring in the evening — Saturday and Sunday nights at 6 and 10. ... Then I’m gonna be part of that new 4 p.m. show three days a week (Monday through Wednesday), and a big part of that is probably gonna be me out in the community. I know they talked about field anchoring, from events. Because the 4 p.m. (show) is not meant to be just another repeat traditional newscast. It’s got a different vibe. ...
“I’m not saying it’s gonna be morning show-like. But it’s more about people. They want real people having fun, doing things. ... They’re very much about Minnesota-Wisconsin pride there, because the station not only covers Minneapolis and a good chunk of Minnesota, but it also has a pretty good coverage in part of Wisconsin. So they really want to celebrate the people of the area with this new 4 o’clock show. And ... I think there’ll be a lot of opportunities to show that ad-lib side as well.”
3. On trading early (and we mean EARLY) mornings for nights and weekends. James said his typical weekday wake-up call was at 1:30 or 2 a.m. for “News Rising,” which starts at 5. “Based on the quality of my jokes, people would think that I don’t spend any time writing ‘The Snark Report,’ but that actually takes a bit of my time. ... I would get in a lot of times by 2:30, 3 o’clock, and write that segment, and then also start jumping into the news and rewriting news content, or suggesting additional content to make sure it was in the show.
“So yeah, this will be weird. My wife has already said she doesn’t know what it’s gonna be like having to share the TV with me at night. Normally, I’d be in bed as prime time is starting and she pretty much had the run of the TV. And I said, ‘Well, you can always kick me down in the basement, and I could watch TV there,’” he said, laughing.
Meanwhile, he admitted working the weekend will take some getting used to. But “when I went there, they said, ‘If you’re doing the Saturday night shows, which days during the week do you want off?’ Which was really nice. And Kristen immediately said, ‘Thursday-Friday,’ because then you still get a date night ... or a family night Friday.”
4. On returning to the northern part of the U.S. after more than two decades in the South. “I have no idea where my blood thickness or any of that falls now, since it’s been quite awhile,” said James, laughing. “I’ll let you know in January or February. But yeah ... our kids, the last time we had — and I use quotes — a ‘winter storm’ here, we put Harris Teeter bags on the kids’ shoes when they were sledding in our neighborhood because there’s no need for boots!
“So, some boots, a snowblower, and WeatherTech for the cars, and some real winter coats are definitely in our future.”
5. On crying on the air. “There’ve been a couple of times that things have gotten me a little emotional, with stories and things that we’ve talked about,” James said. “But I don’t think it’s ever been really obvious.”
On his last day, though, it might be. “They just said, ‘Be prepared on Friday.’ ... I don’t know exactly what that means, but ... they always surprise you with stuff. And I’m like, Ohhhh, God. I just don’t wanna be a blubbering mess. We’ll just see what happens. I’m not gonna promise anything. The good thing is everybody’s gonna make each other laugh, so usually if anybody ever gets like that, something funny will happen to kinda help break it up a little bit.”
6. With that said, just one more thought on what he’s leaving behind. “You literally go into the same place every day for almost 18 years,” James said, “it’s just weird walking in anywhere else. That’s a — it’s — it’s gonna take a minute. We need those little resets, though, you know? New challenges, new skills to learn, all those things.
“But I will miss the people. That’s honestly the hardest part, is the people.”
This story was originally published August 23, 2022 at 10:07 AM with the headline "Why this longtime Charlotte TV host is leaving — and the beer he needs to drink before he goes."
