YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Journalists and the news outlets they work for must embrace and prioritize digital as a way to deliver and promote content, KRIV-TV evening news anchor Caroline Collins said.
The West Middlesex, Pa. native and former WFMJ-TV weekend anchor/multimedia journalist will be the keynote speaker for the Youngstown Press Club’s annual meeting. She will be speaking on “Local Voice, Global Reach: The Digital Transformation of News” during the Monday evening program.
“That’s actually what the industry is living through right now,” Collins said. “It’s something that I feel like I’ve taken very seriously and have taken the steps into educating myself into how to transform with this digital media that is never going to stop changing.”
Where local news sometimes lacks is in failing “to look at ourselves as a brand that isn’t viewing the content on television, she continued.
“That’s where the world is heading,” she remarked.
After graduating in 2015 from Point Park University in Pittsburgh, which she attended on a full-ride golf scholarship, Collins began her broadcast career at WJET-WFPX in Erie, Pa., before being hired by WFMJ, where she worked from 2017 to late 2020. She then left for a position at KSEE-TV in Fresno, Calif., where she remained until she joined KRIV, the Houston Fox network affiliate in December.
“Youngstown is a hard news market,” Collins reflected.
During her time at WFMJ, stories she covered included the closing of General Motors’ Lordstown plant and the death of a Girard police officer. Anchoring the weekend show represented “a big responsibility at a very young age,” and she often shot and edited her own video, as well as doing live shots on her own.
“It made me work fast under pressure. It gave me a thick skin,” she remarked. “This business is not for the weak at all.”
Mona Alexander, news director at WFMJ from 1997 to late 2023, recalled Collins as a sponge for information and a young journalist who was willing to learn and to accept criticism..
“She was a quick study and really wanted the information to get better,” she continued. “She would kind of attach herself to people who can help her do that in a good way.”
Collins said she appreciated working under Alexander.
“She was no softy. She said it how it was. She was very blunt and that’s what you need when you’re young and coming up in the business,” she remarked. She also said she worked with “amazing photojournalists” and learned from colleagues including Derek Steyer, Matt Stone, Janet Rogers and Michelle Nicks.
Collins recalled telling people as far back as when she was in second grade she wanted to go into broadcast journalism. One inspiration was the interviews she saw while her mother watched “Today,” “The Oprah Winfrey Show” or the local news.
“I wanted to do what those people were doing on TV,” she said. “I wanted to be interviewing and asking the celebrity or the person in the community questions.” She also was “a pretty curious kid and very talkative, so I had no problem always asking about things.”
While at WFMJ, social media began evolving and changing rapidly, including with the release of TikTok, she recalled. Her sister showed her how to utilize the platform, and her use of it “really took off” when she worked in Fresno.
One of the things that Alexander said struck her about Collins – while she was at WFMJ and now — is how she possessed “this very clear picture” of social media’s power.
“Caroline really understood how social media was tied to your own personal brand, and that’s where I think she stood apart from the other people who were just posting pictures of what they did over the weekend and going to somebody else’s wedding,” Alexander said.
Collins has 1.6 million followers on TikTok, 300,000 on Instagram, 79,000 on Facebook, 34,000 on X and 73,000 on Threads. She later earned a master’s degree in communication technology with a social media specialization from Point Park.
Collins’ social media prowess and her local roots appealed to the Youngstown Press Club.
“Caroline’s journey from WFMJ to FOX 26 Houston — and her rise as a national content creator — reflects the power of storytelling in today’s digital world,” said Lori Factor, club president. “We’re proud to have one of our own return home to share insights on how local journalism can resonate on a global scale.”
Collins, who has anchored the 10 p.m. broadcast since starting at KRIV, recently relaunched it as the “News Feed,” which looks more like what viewers might see on their social media feeds.
“It’s still hard news, breaking news. It’s just presented in a unique way that I don’t think that we’ve seen local news being presented as,” she said. “We’ve ushered in a totally new concept and I’ve had creative control over the whole thing.” In addition, she launched a show available on the station’s streaming app, “Caroline & Rashi,” with her 5 p.m. co-anchor, Rashi Vats, “a really fun and entertaining show.”
Collins also has been able to incorporate her interest in golf into her career, including at WFMJ, which encouraged the station’s on-air talent to participate in charity golf outings. The station also permitted her participation in professional golfer Jimmy Hanlin’s television series, “Swing Clinic.”
She said that Hanlin liked that she was able to swing a golf club and talk at the same time.
“Trust me, that is a hard task to be able to golf and talk at the same time,” she said. “I always used to admire how my dad would give group clinics and be able to speak and hit at the same time.” She is part of another startup golf network that is based in Texas and participated in a show shot last summer that will be released soon. She also will be filming a few episodes of Hanlin’s “18 Holes” in Pittsburgh.
“There’s always golf stories to cover,” she added. “It’s been a real treat to be able to integrate my love and passion for golf with my career in broadcast journalism, which I also am passionate about.”