Signing Off: WVUA's Lynn Brooks Leaving News To Focus On Family

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Around 2005, Lynn Brooks received a job offer in Dallas as she was making her mark in local news at WVUA 23 in Tuscaloosa. It was also around this time that she met her future husband Joel Dorroh and decided to stay in Alabama.

Little did she know the decision to build a life in Tuscaloosa would leave a lasting impact on the local media ecosystem and touch countless lives in the community over the years.

This week, the Tuscaloosa-based news station announced that Brooks, 48, would be stepping down from her longtime dual roles as lead anchor and news director on May 19 after 21 years on camera.

"Lynn has dedicated more than 20 years of her life here at WVUA 23," said WVUA 23 News General Manager Steve Diorio. "She is loved by her viewers and will leave big shoes to fill. We wish her nothing but the best and thank her for her years of service."

Tuscaloosa Patch caught up with Brooks this week as she reflected on her time behind the news desk, along with the decision to step away and plans for the future.

A Storied Career

Brooks was standing roughly five feet away off camera on April 27, 2011, as WVUA Meteorologist Richard Scott described a massive tornado barreling toward Tuscaloosa. As the first images came in from the station's tower camera, an initial glimpse was seen of what would become the most devastating single event in the city's history.

Grabbing her handheld video camera, Brooks climbed four flights of stairs in Reese Phifer Hall and captured startling moments that would be seen across the globe.

"I just couldn't believe my eyes," Brooks told Patch of seeing the tornado. "Here is the monster we have been talking about ... If I’m not fearless, what am I going to be able to offer to any viewer? I've had people ask me if I thought it was reckless or irresponsible and my answer is always no, it was an educated decision."

The video footage captured on VHS tape by Brooks would be the first images broadcast around the country and world following the tornado and solidified the brand of an already-accomplished journalist in the eyes of her viewers and colleagues.

In the aftermath, Brooks said her husband — a Tuscaloosa attorney — even helped answer phones at the news station and Dorroh reflected back to moments that still resonate today.

"They were on generator power and with a skeleton crew and literally gathering information in a newsroom lit up by flashlights," he said. "She went on the air and broadcasted for hours on end without any script and basically having to ad-lib everything. She got nominated for an Emmy for her work in doing that, but it made me really proud that she was (A) that invested in the community and able to do that and (B) that as she was that professional about it and had that capability of staying on air a long time."

Brooks, who is originally from Arab, Alabama, has worked in television for nearly three decades and came on board at WVUA 23 in 2000 as a reporter. She would go on to work her way up at the station, becoming a reporter, producer and anchor on the 10 p.m. broadcast and then being named the station's news director at the age of 30 — making her the youngest news director at a television station in Alabama and only the second woman statewide at the time.

"I think that I’ve been able to connect with viewers over this past 21 years," she said. "People can spot a fake, so you better be ready to be yourself. They’ve seen me at my best and in scary situations. They’ve seen me laugh and giggle with Terry Saban during homecoming parades and have seen me out in the pouring rain ... through the good and the bad times, and the biggest moments of my life were also the biggest moments of their lives."

A Lasting Legacy

WVUA 23 reporter Chelsea Barton has been with the station in some capacity since 2011 and over the last decade has hammered out her own lofty place in local media through producing powerful, sincere stories, while providing continuity and establishing a high level of trust with viewers, much in the same way Brooks has for nearly three decades.

Barton said she views Brooks as an inspiration and told Patch she first met her future boss at a career fair in 2010 and thought to herself "Wow, I want to be just like that lady."

"Lynn has been an incredible mentor, and an even better friend to me over the last 10 years," Barton said. "I’ve always looked up to her, not only for her role in our shared profession, but also because of her heart. She taught me to be a person first, and a reporter second. People and relationships matter more than any story ever could."

WBRC Fox 6 News Chief Meteorologist Wes Wyatt previously worked at another news station with Brooks' and was her first hire as news director at WVUA 23.

"I went back to work with Lynn Brooks and met my wife on the same day as well," Wyatt said with a laugh. "Lynn always put the employees first and always had time to listen to any concerns or needs and with weather being such a big deal around here, she would always be willing to sit down, meet and answer what we would need in the weather office. She was so hands-on and so there for her employees."

Wyatt then pointed out some of the hallmarks of a talented journalist exhibited by his former co-worker and longtime friend.

"It's about being natural and who you are and I think Lynn is a prime example of that," he said. "What you see with her is the way she is as a person. If she's reporting and asking you questions from a journalism standpoint, it's as if you're asking me these questions as a friend."

Wyatt and Barton are just a couple of notable television names to have worked alongside Brooks, who prides herself on being a mentor to those coming up through the business.

"I'm really proud of teaching [younger reporters] how to do the job, but also teaching them how to balance your life doing this job," Brooks said. "It takes intentionality. You have to educate your family and friends on this unique thing you’re doing in this profession and you have to be very careful about how you use your time ... Your time is your life and they ain’t making no more time."

In providing wisdom to the next generation, and as more women secure jobs in all mediums of journalism, Brooks said she has always been a stickler for knowing the facts of the story and letting everything else take care of itself.

"There’s no hairdo, there’s no outfit, that will substitute for knowing what you’re talking about and knowing the people behind the story," she said. "That is what will give you the confidence you need ... it doesn’t matter to me if the teleprompter goes out. If I’ve spent all day working on these stories, I’ve got confidence because I know what I'm talking about. Newcomers get so fixated on the right kind of dress or right kind of outfit, and I'm just so old school and way far in the other direction."

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Changing The Script

Brooks cited family as her primary reason for saying goodbye for now to television news, but also stressed how lucky she considers herself to have found a place like Tuscaloosa to build a life and career.

"I'm a wife, a mother and a caregiver to my mother who struggles with dementia, so for me, I need to be in a position where I'm not pulled in so many different directions," Brooks said. "Even though I'm used to a life where I'm trying to be all things for all people, I've realized I have to make a commitment to my family and that is going to take the number one spot ... the number one priority."

While many in the world of television news use markets as lily pads to jump from job to job, Brooks has crafted a long career primarily with one station, serving one community. It's through the years of sweat, commitment and hard work that she has been able to forge a strong brand that connects with viewers and colleagues alike.

"I’ve never felt the need to run all around the country and chase this job or that job," she said. "I'm very comfortable being your local news lady. I think when you do that, you’re more invested and you put more attention and care into what you do. With the stories I do, I’m going to see the same folks at the grocery store and at church."

When asked about those who have helped her along the way in her life and career, she placed her husband at the top of the list.

"He’s probably the person that knows more about the local stories I’ve covered than anybody else," Brooks said. " He is the person who has made this possible for me to take a step back, because it's scary. I'm no different than a lot of women out there. We feel like we have to be everything to everybody. But he has helped me to see that it's ok to step away for a little bit and not be pulled in so many different directions and it’s made me fall in love with him all over again."

Dorroh said he and their 10-year-old daughter Emma will be looking forward to seeing more of the veteran newswoman around the house.

"One of the things that’s always been an issue is by the time she gets home from the station from doing the 6 o'clock news, it's 7-7:30 and that doesn’t leave us a lot of time to interact with our daughter as a family, so I'm looking forward to having more 5:30-6 o'clock dinners and being able to do some of the things the rest of the world does where we’re not on that same time schedule."

Brooks may be stepping out of the daily spotlight, but she told Patch that she was far from done with journalism and even expressed plans for a potential podcast.

"I am still very much interested in news, I always have been," she said. "So you can rest assured I will be involved in news in some shape or fashion, even if you don’t see my face on television. I just need, right now, something more flexible. The day-in, day-out demands of news just doesn’t stop, so for me the best thing is to take a step back. But by no means am I stepping out of the arena."

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