Mike Barz (born ''Michael Barszcz''; April 9, 1970) is an American broadcaster who was weekday morning news anchor at

WFOX-TV WFOX-TV (channel 30) is a television station in Jacksonville, Florida, United States, affiliated with Fox and Telemundo. It is owned by Cox Media Group, which provides certain services to CBS affiliate WJAX-TV (channel 47) under a joint sales ag ...

and

WJAX-TV WJAX-TV (channel 47) is a television station in Jacksonville, Florida, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Hoffman Communications, which maintains a joint sales agreement (JSA) with Cox Media Group, owner of Fox/Telemundo affiliat ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

. He was a morning news anchor at

WFLD WFLD (channel 32) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Gary, Indiana–licensed MyNetworkTV ...

, the Fox affiliate in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

from 2007-2009.

Early life and education

Michael Barszcz was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

to a military family. He moved to the Midwest to attend

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, or simply Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana University and, with ...

, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1993.

Professional career

Early in his career, Barz adjusted his surname and began working as a news anchor at

WHBF-TV WHBF-TV (channel 4) is a television station licensed to Rock Island, Illinois, United States, serving as the CBS affiliate for the Quad Cities area. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Burlington, Iowa–licensed The CW, CW owned-and-op ...

Rock Island, Illinois Rock Island is a city in and the county seat of Rock Island County, Illinois, Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. The original Rock Island, from which the city name is derived, is now called Rock Island Arsenal, Arsenal Island. The popul ...

and at

WLUK-TV WLUK-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Suring-licensed CW affiliate WCWF (channel 14). Both stations share studi ...

Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea lev ...

, where he worked as a feature reporter and anchor. Barz left WLUK in 1998 to come to Chicago to take a job at

WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is an Independent station (North America), independent television station in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is sister station, sister to the company's sole radio property, talk ra ...

as the sports anchor for the ''

WGN Morning News The ''WGN Morning News'' is an American morning television news program airing on WGN-TV (channel 9), an independent television station and national superstation in Chicago, Illinois owned by Nexstar Media Group. The program broadcasts each we ...

'', joining a morning news team with a controversially comedic bent. In early May 2005, Barz received an early release from his contract at WGN-TV to become a full-time feature contributor at

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

' ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...

'' (GMA). Barz anchored the GMA's weather segment after Tony Perkins' departure from the show in 2005 until September 5, 2006 when he was succeeded by

Sam Champion Samuel James Champion (born August 13, 1961) is an American weather anchor who is best known for his combined 25-year career on the ABC flagship station WABC-TV and ''Good Morning America''. He formerly co-anchored '' AMHQ: America's Morning He ...

. In March 2007, Barz returned to Chicago as a co-anchor of

WFLD-TV WFLD (channel 32) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Gary, Indiana–licensed MyNetworkTV o ...

's "Fox News in the Morning," working alongside co-anchors

Tamron Hall Tamron Hall (born September 16, 1970) is an American broadcast journalist and television talk show host. In September 2019, Hall debuted her self-titled syndicated daytime talk show, which earned her a Daytime Emmy Award. Hall was formerly a n ...

and David Novarro. Novarro subsequently was moved to a different WFLD newscast, and after Hall joined

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...

in New York, Barz was joined by a new co-anchor,

Jan Jeffcoat Jan Jeffcoat is an American television personality, currently serving as the lead anchor for ''The National Desk'', a headline news service aired on Sinclair Broadcast Group stations. Career She's made brief appearances on several television s ...

, in June 2007. In July 2010, Barz was hired as a weekday morning news anchor at two stations in

. Barz was present at the 40th anniversary of ''

'' on November 19, 2015. In 2018, Mike Barz became

WISH-TV WISH-TV (channel 8) is a television station in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is locally owned by Circle City Broadcasting alongside Marion-licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate WNDY-TV (channel 23) and low-power, C ...

’s evening news anchor for the 6pm, 10pm, and 11pm newscasts.

Personal

Barz married former

reporter Tera Williams (a.k.a. Tera Barz), in 2010. She was his co-anchor at

, until June 2012. Barz and Williams divorced in October 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barz, Mike 1970 births Living people American broadcasters Indiana University Bloomington alumni