‘I’m gonna miss you all’: After 2 decades, Jacksonville TV news anchor says goodbye

After more than two decades of delivering the news, another Jacksonville TV anchor is stepping away from the anchor desk.

Dawn Lopez, who co-anchors Action News Jax This Morning and Action News Jax at Noon, is leaving the news organization.

Seated next to her longtime co-anchor Phil Amato, Lopez made the announcement on-air Thursday morning, her final day at Action News Jax, which broadcasts its newscasts on CBS affiliate WJAX-TV 47 and FOX affiliate WFOX-TV 30

“I’m gonna miss you all,” Lopez told viewers. “But I keep saying ‘It’s just new chapters, it’s not goodbye.’ “

“Thank you, Dawn,” Amato said, celebrating Lopez’s work at the station and in the community as well as their friendship.

“For more than 25 years, this anchor desk has been Dawn’s place to connect with you and tell your stories,” Amato said in a produced video. “I had the honor sit next to her every morning, so I got a front-row seat to see what a gift she truly is. To watch her bring joy to those around her. To see her serve her community with so much passion … So as we send off my good friend, Dawn Lopez, I think I speak for the whole city of Jacksonville when I say ‘Thank you, Dawn.’ “

Action News anchor John Bachman left station in July 2024

Lopez’s departure comes six months after anchor John Bachman left the station in late July.

“Tonight is my last night with Action News Jax. I hate these things. After 10 years [at Action News] and 27 years in TV news, it is time for a change,” said Bachman, who had anchored the station’s marquee newscasts at 5, 6 and 11 p.m. on WJAX and at 6:30 and 10 p.m. on WFOX. 

After leaving the station, Bachman and a partner launched a communications company in the area.

News4Jax anchor Tom Wills retires after 49 years at WJXT

Bachman’s departure was the second notable TV anchor departure of 2024.

Two months earlier, legendary TV news anchor Tom Wills left WJXT/News4Jax after 49 years at the station. And in another shocker, First Coast News chief meteorologist Tim Deegan announced in November that he would leave WTLV, the station he has called home for 42 years, in May 2025.

Lopez, a Jacksonville native and University of North Florida graduate, had anchored the morning and noon newscasts at Action News since then-WTEV TV-47 became Jacksonville’s CBS affiliate in July 2002 after WJXT TV-4 split from CBS after 53 years.

A fixture on morning TV for a quarter century, Lopez was one of the longest-tenured on-air personalities at Action News. For the station’s viewers, Lopez was a steady presence in daytime as high-profile anchors have come and gone at Action News’ evening broadcasts, including Bachman in July 2024 and the 2014 departures of Mark Spain, Paige Kelton and Tera Barz. (Kelton remained at the station in other roles until March 2021.) Morning anchors Lynnsey Gardner and Mike Barz also left in 2014.

Also: 3 weeks after pancreatic cancer diagnosis, former Jacksonville TV news anchor dies at 64

Before joining Action News, Lopez worked for affiliates in Columbus, Georgia, and High Point, North Carolina, according to a profile on actionnewsjax.com.

“What a privilege, what an honor,” Lopez told viewers Thursday morning.  “… I thank you for your support.”

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Dawn Lopez leaves Action News Jax anchor desk after 20-plus years

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