Exclusive: CBS46’s Markina Brown departing after four years

CBS46 Chief Meteorologist Markina Brown is leaving the station after four years. CREDIT: Publicity photo

CBS46 chief meteorologist Markina Brown is leaving her post after four years at the station and plans to leave the TV news business entirely. Her final day is Friday.

She is the third chief meteorologist to leave this year in Atlanta. At 11 Alive, Mike Francis was let go after management expressed displeasure with his performance. He is now in real estate.

Over at Fox 5, chief meteorologist Ken Cook in June retired over the summer after 35 years in Atlanta. David Chandley, a long-time meteorologist at Channel 2 Action News who worked with the chief Glenn Burns, left the station over the summer after 25 years in July, hoping for a chief job somewhere else. He is still under a non-compete clause until January, 2015.

Brown released an exclusive statement to me:

I have spent my professional life predicting the weather and forecasting the seasons. This fall is one of expectation and change, inviting me to try new ventures and carrying me to new heights in my career.

I would like to thank the viewers in the greater Atlanta area for their support over the years, as well as the top brass at CBS 46 for the opportunity to work with a talented, successful weather and news team, who are dedicated to delivering quality broadcasts every night.

Brown wouldn’t say what she plans to do next, but she has been acting. Last year, she was in a play called “Make Time 4 Love.”

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Larry Perret, the new CBS46 news director who joined the station in September, sent a statement to staff:

I want to let you know that Markina Brown has resigned to accept a position in another industry. Markina tells me she cannot let us know exactly what that position is right now. But, she says it’s an exciting new adventure in her career.

I thank Markina for all of her contributions at CBS46 News over the past four years and wish her the very best as she embarks on this new opportunity. Her last day here is this coming Friday.

Her departure is the polar opposite of that of her predecessor Dagmar Midcap, who left in a whirlwind of personal turmoil in 2010. Midcap opened up to me about her boyfriend’s suicide and her need to get out of town. (Read all about that here.) In 2011, the animal lover landed a weather forecasting job in San Diego and she is still there.

Brown? She told me virtually nothing beyond saying she plans to stay in Atlanta for the time being. As her above statement made clear, she is purposely unrevealing. That’s her choice.

When I interviewed her in 2010 soon after she arrived in town, Brown told me the basics about her life but that’s all. She grew up in Detroit but interest in weather came later in life. Prior to Atlanta, she had TV news jobs in Los Angeles, Cleveland, Chicago, St. Louis and Lansing, Mich. She has some family members here.

We compared the weather here vs. Cleveland, noting that it changes a lot. She said she loves sushi and pizza. She was married at the time I talked to her but declined to identify her husband’s name. She had two dogs then.

According to her CBS46 bio, “in her spare time, Markina enjoys acting, shopping, working out, and watching movies.”

CBS46 recently lost its general manager as well.