Phyllis Smith

Phyllis Smith started working at WTAP on July 6, 2015. She grew up in Vienna and graduated from Parkersburg High School. She graduated from West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in Communication Studies and a minor in English. While she was at Wesleyan, she interned at WDTV in Bridgeport. She was hired as a weekend reporter while she was still in college. Phyllis learned the ropes at WDTV and met some of her closest friends there.

Some of the biggest stories she covered at WDTV included a train derailment in Randolph County, the Elk River water crisis in Kanawha County, and when a man shot and killed four people in a drug deal gone wrong in Clarksburg. Two of the people shot and killed were a father and son that were delivering newspapers early in the morning who were innocent bystanders. One of the most intense stories she covered at WTAP was the IEI warehouse fire in 2017. Thirty-nine fire departments worked for over a week to put out the fire, and it could be seen for miles.

During her time at WTAP, Phyllis has won four Ohio Associated Press awards, one West Virginia Broadcasters Association Excellence in Broadcasting award and one Virginias Associated Press award.

It was always Phyllis' hope she could come back home and work at WTAP. Being the 6 and 11 p.m. anchor is a dream come true for her.