KCEN debuts first Central Texas all-Black, all-female news anchor team on Monday
As a high school junior in Omaha, Nebraska, aspiring broadcast journalist Jasmin Caldwell didn’t regularly see people who looked like her behind the television news desk. She certainly didn’t see entirely all-Black newscasts.
“Growing up, I always saw all-white news anchors,” Caldwell says. “I didn’t think that there would ever be Black newscasts. I knew there was always room for one, but I didn’t think that I would see three African Americans — male or female — permanently, all at one time. No way.”
On the morning of Monday, May 2 from 4:30 to 7 a.m., the anchor will join Texas Today, a weekday morning news show on KCEN, an NBC affiliate serving Temple, Waco, Killeen, and the surrounding areas. Alongside co-anchor Taheshah Moise and new meteorologist Ashley Carter, the three women will form the station’s — and perhaps the nation’s — first-ever all-Black, all-female news anchor team.
Previously the weekend anchor for the station, Caldwell was considering leaving KCEN when her contract was up. That was before Moise’s co-anchor on Texas Today, Chris Rogers, announced he was leaving for KCEN sister-station WTSP in Tampa, Florida.
Knowing that there was already another Black woman on the news desk, Caldwell figured there was no way she would get the promotion to weekdays. As a result, she was surprised when her boss asked if she was interested.
“I was shocked when he was considering me,” Caldwell says. “And I said, ‘Well, you know what, this is historic. This is something I have to do.’ And I feel like I couldn’t get that at any other station.”
Texas women have made strides recently in the field, but the KCEN team is different. Caldwell says the rest of the team shares her enthusiasm for making history, which is a first for KCEN. They aren’t sure if their trailblazing effort extends to the rest of Texas, or to the nation.
“I didn’t want to offend anyone if there was another all-Black, all-female team out there, but I I just cannot think of one off the top of my head,” she says.
Caldwell was ready to leave KCEN until she was given what she deems a “historic” opportunity to join the Texas Today team.
courtesy of Jasmin Caldwell
Caldwell is excited not only to make history at the station, but to get to work with Moise and Carter. She says the three have great chemistry already, and that viewers can expect to see that on their screens bright and early every weekday morning.
“You can expect a whole lot of energy and a lot of personalities,” Caldwell says. “And they always say the phrase ‘Black Girl Magic.’ A lot of Black Girl Magic.”
Caldwell says her mom pushed her to try out a news broadcasting class in high school. For the last five years she has been an intrepid reporter at the station, breaking big, hard-hitting stories and serving as a popular weekend anchor. She was the first to report on the identification of missing Fort Hood solider Gregory Morales‘ skeletal remains and provided extensive coverage of President George H.W. Bush’s funeral at Texas A&M. Despite her success, she saw barriers at every step to where she is today.
“It’s been very hard for us, to where, we know we are good, we know that we can fill the roles, but sometimes we are looked over maybe because of our skin color,” Caldwell says. “Or, maybe there’s too many Black girls at the station.”
But she remembers that 11th grader who couldn’t picture what Central Texans are going to witness on Monday morning. Caldwell expects there will be young people who can now see that future for themselves.
“I hope that they will look at this broadcast and see three women who never gave up,” she says.
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