Mary Jo West

Mary Jo West (born 1948 ) is an American retired television news anchor who primarily worked in the Phoenix, Arizona, market. She was the first female evening news anchor in Phoenix at KOOL-TV from 1976 to 1982, anchoring the network newscast CBS News Nightwatch from 1982 to 1983 before returning to Phoenix, this time at KTVK. After leaving television news in 1986, she became a spokeswoman and communications director.

Early life West was born in College Park, Georgia, where she sang in her hometown's Baptist church choir. West won a voice scholarship to Florida State University's music school. She was cast in a production of Li'l Abner, which performed with the United Service Organizations in 1968. West later won the Miss Atlanta pageant.

In 1976, West began working at KOOL-TV (channel 10), Phoenix's CBS affiliate. Her first years in the position were difficult. and even called her "Betty Jo" at one point, even though he had hired West in the first place because he thought the station needed a female anchor. West also received hate mail from viewers, one of whom urged the "blonde tomato" to "go home and cook dinner for her husband".

On the evening of May 28, 1982, West anchored the news from the station's newsroom while Close and another KOOL employee were being held hostage in their studio for nearly five hours. That year, she also portrayed Maria in the Phoenix Theatre's production of The Sound of Music, helping earn record-breaking funding to save the company.

West worked to cover issues on substantive topics that did not always receive media attention. She was the first woman to go to the Arizona State Prison Complex – Florence as she interviewed inmates for a documentary on sexual assault, winning a Rocky Mountain Emmy Award. By that time, all of the major Phoenix TV stations had female co-anchors. The experience was not all West had hoped for, and she soon soured on network newscasting and living in New York. In a 1984 interview, she said,

She decided to return to local news and—after negotiating with stations in Minneapolis, Atlanta and Los Angeles—returned to Phoenix, this time at KTVK (channel 3), the city's third-rated news station. She debuted at KTVK on September 20, 1983, serving as the lone anchor of the station's 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts until a co-anchor joined in early 1984. In spite of having attracted an anchor who led the ratings at KOOL, KTVK failed to see increases in viewership for its newscasts and faced attacks from the media. During this time, West married Richard Mahoney, a college professor.

Public relations career In 1986, West left KTVK. and founded a communications company, which closed in 1989 when she was hired to run the city of Phoenix's government-access channel. That same year, West and Mahoney divorced, sharing custody of their adopted daughter Molly. She also hosted a weekly health series for KTVK in 1993.

After stints with Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Arizona and the city of Phoenix in the early 2000s, she became the spokeswoman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix. She later was the spokeswoman for the Bashas' supermarket chain and communications director for Arizona First Things First, as well as St. Vincent de Paul. In retirement, she works at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

Awards 2018: Arizona Women's Hall of Fame 1994: Dr. Martin Luther King Living the Dream Award, City of Phoenix for advocacy on behalf of the mentally ill 1979: Peabody Award, The Long Eyes of Kitt Peak (narrator) Two Rocky Mountain Emmy Awards Gracie Allen Award 13 Arizona Press Club awards Arizona Broadcasters' Hall of Fame