Maria Parmigiani is WBAY-TV’s new morning traffic anchor, stepping into Kathryn Bracho’s former position
GREEN BAY – The newest member of WBAY-TV’s “Action 2 News This Morning” is a breast cancer survivor with Wisconsin roots, two daughters and a dog named Meatball.
Maria Parmigiani, who grew up in Berlin, was introduced to viewers as the new traffic anchor during Monday morning’s newscast.
She replaces Kathryn Bracho, who was the station’s original traffic reporter since the segments debuted in 2015. Bracho had been part of the morning newscast as a co-anchor since 2006. She left the station in May after 21 years to pursue a career outside of broadcasting.
Parmigiani got her journalism start on Green Bay’s CW 14 in 2011 as the station’s first “CW Star” and has worked as a lifestyle host in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Arizona. She joins anchors Tammy Elliott, Emerson Lehmann, Aisha Morales and chief meteorologist, Steve Beylon, for “Action 2 News This Morning” from 4:30 a.m. to 7 a.m. weekdays.
“I’m excited to be here, you guys,” she said during the 5 a.m. hour. “I could not sleep last night. It felt like the first day of school.”
She’s been preparing for the role behind the scenes and hopes her Wisconsin connections give her a leg up.
“I grew up in Berlin, Wisconsin, so I know all the roads, and I keep reminding everybody if I say anything wrong, you have permission to give me a hard time, because I should know all of these roads by heart, right?” she said.
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She shared family photos and told viewers a bit about her life, including a breast cancer diagnosis during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. She stepped away from television during that time and has been in remission for a few years, according to her bio on the WBAY website.
“It was a crazy time, but I’m always willing to talk to everybody about it,” she said on Monday. “I think a lot of people have been touched by cancer, whether they have survived it themselves, known someone who has passed from it, I think it affects more people than we realize, and I’m always open for a dialogue, because I think it helps kind of break boundaries.”
She has two daughters, ages 15 and 8, and “a naughty little puppy” named Meatball.
Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and feature writer at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at 920-431-8347 or [email protected]. Follow her on X @KendraMeinert.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: WBAY’s new morning traffic anchor Maria Parmigiani has Wisconsin roots
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