2018 WAVE Awards Spotlight: Gayle Guyardo

TAMPA BAY’S FAVORITE LOCAL TV NEWS ANCHOR

WFLA News Channel 8’s Gayle Guyardo has been helping Tampa Bay residents make the most of their mornings for 25 years.

“I tell people that they hired me when I was eight,” the veteran anchor laughs, “but that’s not the case. I did practically start out of college. I had an anchor job in Sarasota and came to Channel 8 in my early 20’s.”

Guyardo currently serves as the co-anchor of News Channel 8 Today, arriving at the station each weekday morning after her alarm clock sounds off at 2:30 a.m. “At first I thought it was a family curse,” she’s mused. “Just like my father, grandfather and great grandfather did – I wake up in the wee hours of the morning.”

It’s in those hours that she works from 4:30 a.m. to 7:00 a.m., offering Tampa Bay the latest news. An hour later, she leads a segment dedicated to finding out “what makes the Tampa Bay area so special.”

One of those things is Guyardo herself. She says she still loves her job because it affords her “the privilege and honor of working in [her] own hometown.”

“I’m the third generation growing up in Tampa,” she notes. “I come from a very Italian family. My grandmother rolled cigars in Tampa and my family’s been here for well over 100 years.”

“There are so many choices in the marketplace now,” she says, taking the time to thank viewers for their loyalty to News Channel 8 and for supporting her throughout her career. “To be in the city and to see it grow up and watch it transform is just amazing.”

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