Joyce Peterson

Joyce is an Emmy-nominated, award-winning anchor/reporter for Action News 5. She joined the WMC-TV team in January 1994.

She earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Joyce's major was in broadcast communications, with a minor in political science and Russian studies.

Her first job out of college was at WHIZ-AM-FM-TV in 1992, in Zanesville, Ohio, about an hour east of Columbus, Ohio. Joyce was hired as the weekend anchor and reporter, but was moved a few months later to the main weathercaster position. She quickly realized that news reporting, not weather forecasting, was her strength. Fun fact: she was the first weather person at WHIZ to use the chroma-key (green screen) while doing her weather reports - no more magnets stuck to a board to tell the weather story!

Eight months into her role at WHIZ, Joyce accepted a position at a television station in a larger market, WSIL, in Carterville, Illinois. She worked as the morning news anchor and reporter for six months in this tri-state market, which also serves news viewers in the Paducah, Kentucky and Cape Girardeau, Missouri communities.

Her most memorable reporting during this time was covering the Mississippi River flooding in 1993, watching entire towns disappear beneath the power of the rising river. On August 1st, the Mississippi River at St. Louis crested at 49.58 feet, the highest stage ever recorded. The size and impact of the Great Flood of 1993 were unprecedented. It has been considered the most costly and devastating flood to ravage the U.S. in modern history.

Then, just 14 months after graduating from college, Joyce landed a job in Memphis, Tennessee, with Action News 5. She was hired as the overnight, news cut-in anchor (remember when local TV stations did hourly news updates?) and news reader on Wake-Up Call, the station's morning news program. She quickly moved to a daytime reporting shift and was assigned to both the education and crime beats during her first stint with Action News 5.

Joyce is a recipient of multiple School Bell Awards from the Tennessee Education Association and won an award from the National Education Association for her series of reports on "Failing the Fitness Grade," exposing the negative impact on students' minds and bodies as more schools cut physical education classes from the daily schedule.

She has also been fortunate to interview presidents, civil rights leaders and celebrities in her role with WMC-TV (Nelson Mandela was a favorite, as was Mikhail Gorbachev, Issac Hayes, Maxine and Vasco Smith, and Reverend Benjamin Hooks were also memorable meetings.)

But talking to regular Mid-Southerners, helping improve their lives, keeping them informed about policies that affect their families, is the role that has mattered most in her 32-year TV news career.

In 2005, Joyce moved to WPTY, ABC24 as the weekend anchor, and in 2011 was promoted to main anchor alongside seasoned news veteran Cameron Harper. Joyce is extremely proud of the hard work she and the ABC24 team did over the years. During this period, she also covered hurricanes for the first time, heading to the Gulf Coast to bring viewers live coverage of Hurricane Gustav in 2008.

That year was also a good year to be a University of Memphis Tigers fan! Joyce and the ABC24 team followed the Tigers' men's basketball team on their NCAA run in the big dance, bringing live reports from Little Rock, Houston and San Antonio. The Tigers just missed winning the title, but what a run that was, and how fortunate are those who got to cover such an exciting season!

In 2011, the Mississippi River overflowed its banks once again, this time flooding parts of Memphis, including downtown. 1,300 homes in the Bluff City were evacuated, and this flood also became a record-breaker for damage done and the cost to clean it up.

After more than a decade at ABC24, Joyce moved back to Action News 5 in 2018 as an anchor/reporter, reuniting on-air with her husband, Chief Meteorologist Ron Childers. They've been married since 2001 and will celebrate their 25th anniversary in September 2026! Ron and Joyce have one daughter, Emily, who lives and works in New York City. They also have three fur babies: cats named Wasaabi (found in the engine of Ron's Saab), Stormy and Fiona.

Joyce currently anchors the 5 p.m. newscast Monday through Friday and reports for Action News 5 at 10.

Feel free to reach out and say "hi" or to send her a story idea. And thank you for watching Action News 5. It's great to have you with us!