SALT LAKE CITY — Thanks to her mother's career as a reporter and anchor, Ashley Moser was literally surrounded by a TV newsroom environment before she can even remember.
"It’s kind of in my blood I guess," Moser said. "She was pregnant with me when she was covering breaking news. She even talks about how she remembers me kicking during live shots."
Moser's own flourishing TV career has brought her to KSL-TV, Ch. 5, where she'll join Mike Headrick as co-anchor of the 5 p.m. newscast beginning Monday and will also report for the 10 p.m. newscast.
Moser graduated in 2013 from BYU, where she met her husband, Michael. Her TV news experience includes stints as a reporter and morning show anchor at NBC's WNWO affiliate in Toledo, Ohio, and at ABC station KITV in her hometown of Honolulu, Hawaii. She believes she has arrived at her dream job after receiving an offer from KSL.
"I remember getting a call and thinking like, 'Oh, OK Heavenly Father, I get it, this is what you want, you want us to move back (to Utah),'" Moser said. "I was so excited. There were no other stations I’d rather get interest from. I already knew KSL from going to school here and from its legacy here. … I couldn’t say no, couldn’t pass it up. Not at all."
Christopher Moore, news director of KSL-TV, lauded Moser's hire.
"We are excited to add someone of Ashley's caliber to our team as we look forward to a big 2016," he said.
Moser was drawn to TV journalism at a young age while she spent time at her mother's workplace.
"Growing up, I was in the newsroom," she said. "The scanner talk, the fast pace, everybody on deadline, that always appealed to me. When I realized this is something I could do, too, it really hit home."
Moser also credits growing up as an only child for helping her express herself, something that is considered a critical skill for TV news reporting.
"I look at it as something that was positive in my life," she said. "I had to learn how to speak to adults at a young age, how to speak up, how to communicate."
Moser believes being informed is one of the greatest rewards of a career in journalism.
"My biggest pet peeve is having a conversation with people about current events and not knowing what’s going on," Moser said. "And so I think that my interest in news … stems from wanting to be in the know and wanting to have information right then and there."
Moser's idea of a good TV journalist, she said, serves viewers by bringing them relevant information that would be difficult to bring to light without dedicated newsgathering — a vital process that she calls one of the most gratifying parts of her job.
"I feel good about what I do at the end of the day," she said.
Email: blockhart@deseretnews.com
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