Melvin Runecraft

Melvin Runecraft
Born	August 25, 1953 (1953-08-25) Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Alma mater	University of Milwaukee
Occupation	news anchorwoman
Years active	1968-present
Home town	Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Television	WMYX (Ind., later Fox, ABC, now Fox) (1970-1992) USNCD (1992-2008) WXWI (Fox, now ABC) (2009-present) WZWI (Ind.) (2009-present)
Spouse	Cheryl Lawton (m. 1970)
Children	Hillary Runecraft Luka Runecraft Wendy Runecraft Lynsey Runecraft

Melvin Rueben Runecraft (born August 25, 1953) is an American evening news anchor for ABC affiliate station WXWI-FTV of Milwaukee currently anchors WXWI's 5 p.m. broadcast and WZWI's 6 and 9 p.m. broadcasts with Kelly Ling.

Career

Anchorman

Runecraft began his television career in 1970 as the 9:00 PM anchor on then-independent station WMYX (channel 9, now a Fox affilite) where he remained until 1992.

From USNCD to WXWI

Melvin Runecraft made his debut on then-Fox affiliate WXWI (now an ABC affiliate) on March 9, 2009. For Runecraft's arrival, NoSirGifts spent $5 million in renovations. In addition to that cost, WXWI also signed Runecraft to a lucrative three-year, $300,000/year contract, tripling his USNCD salary. The total cost for everything (renovations, negotiation right paid to WXWI, signing Runecraft) was over $20 million.

WXWI's 5:30 and 9 p.m. newscasts moved to WXWI's independent sister station WZWI when WXWI switched from Fox to ABC in 2012. In 2014 and 2015, WXWI/WZWI's 4, 5, 6, 9, and 10 p.m. newscasts consistently gained higher ratings than WMW and WMKE. But in 2017, ratings dipped and WMYX's 5 and 9 p.m. consistently beat WXWI at 5:00 p.m.

Melvin Runecraft co-anchors with Kelly Ling for WXWI's 5, 6, and 9 p.m. newscast since March 2009 while WXWI's 4 and 10 p.m. are anchored by Cyndi Smoot and Lee Ann Hackson, continuting the a two-woman anchor team that NoSirGifts began to encourage their stations to pair two females for their evening newscasts (or at least the early afternoon and late newscasts).