KHON picks successor to Wilcox

KHON-TV is moving morning news co-anchor Tannya Joaquin to its 5 p.m. newscast and has hired former KITV anchor Kathy Muneno.

The changes follow the departure of Leslie Wilcox to become chief executive officer at PBS Hawaii.

Joaquin will move into Wilcox former co-anchor slot alongside Ron Mizutani for the station's 5 p.m. weekday newscasts effective Monday, April 30.

"I'm thrilled to make the leap from mornings to evenings to team up with Ron Mizutani. It is an honor to be selected as Leslie Wilcox's successor," Joaquin said in a statement.

Joaquin began her TV news career in 1992 as an intern at KITV, Hawaii's ABC affiliate. She worked in various off- and on-air capacities in Ohio and California before joining KHON in 2002.

She will also take Wilcox's leadership role in the Lokahi Giving Project, a community service program founded by Wilcox and Mariellen Jones.

Muneno, currently traveling with the Polynesian Voyaging Society, will shift from sea legs to air legs at KHON as morning news co-anchor alongside Kirk Matthews, on April 30.

"It is a tremendous honor to be a part of the No. 1 morning news show in Hawaii," Muneno said, in a statement.

She joined KITV in 1991 and anchored "Good Morning Hawaii" for the last four of her first nine years there. She served as a newswriter for an Ohio Fox affiliate for about a year before returning to Hawaii, and to KITV as weather anchor in 2001.

Muneno has volunteered for several nonprofit organizations, including the Polynesian Voyaging Society since leaving KITV in 2004.