GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — After 20 years in local news, Morning News Anchor Meredith TerHaar has announced she is leaving 13 ON YOUR SIDE.
"I have loved my role as the weekday morning news anchor and I'm so grateful for this incredible team and this wonderful season of working alongside them to bring you stories that matter to our community," TerHaar said in her Facebook post announcing her departure.
"As my children have gotten older, the crazy hours that come with this job have gotten harder, and frankly, more difficult for our family," she said.
"Between my time as the morning news anchor in Panama City Beach and my time on mornings at WZZM, it's been a decade," TerHaar said in her announcement.
"It's time for a new adventure and a new life rhythm that doesn't involve a 2:45 alarm!"
TerHaar is excited to become a Communications Specialist with Corewell Health. Her last day on-air at 13 ON YOUR SIDE is Friday, January 6.
She says her favorite stories over the years have been those where she can celebrate the good work of people making a difference in the lives of others, or bring awareness to an important issue.
Meredith's journalism career began at 13 ON YOUR SIDE as the morning show associate producer during her final semester of her senior year at Hope College. She would go on to produce the noon news and then started two weekly on-air franchises that aired in during the station's weekend morning news that she launched alongside Jennifer Pascua.
Meredith's love for interviewing people and amplifying their voices led to a nationwide job search that landed her and her husband Eric in Panama City Beach, FL where Meredith started as the 5 p.m. news producer, anchor and 10 p.m. reporter. She was eventually promoted to morning news anchor and ended her time on the Emerald Coast as assistant news director.
TerHaar and her husband moved back to West Michigan when she accepted the role of Weekend Morning News anchor in 2014. TerHaar was named Weekday Morning News anchor in 2020.
TerHaar is thrilled to close this chapter of her career on such a high note with a team she adores saying, "I'm so proud of each of these incredible individuals and the team we've built together. That makes it easier to leave because I know I'm leaving you, the viewers, in great hands."
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