Arizona duopoly hire creates historic Native American anchor team

Arizona’s Family has added Charly Edsitty to its morning anchor team, pairing her with Colton Shone on “Good Morning Arizona” — a move that creates what the station says is the first known all-Native American anchor team on a commercial television newscast in the United States.

Edsitty will co-anchor the weekday morning newscast from 4:30 to 6 a.m. on KTVK, or “3TV,” and KPHO, “CBS 5,” in Phoenix, Arizona. The stations are owned by Gray Media.

Edsitty, who is Diné, or Navajo, is returning to the Phoenix television market after working at KTRK in Houston, Texas.

A Glendale, Arizona, native and Baylor University graduate, Edsitty began her television career in Phoenix as a planning producer before moving on air. She later worked as a bureau reporter in Flagstaff, Arizona, covering wildfires, winter storms and Indigenous communities across northern Arizona before becoming a general assignment reporter in Phoenix.

At KTRK, Edsitty covered major breaking news and severe weather events across Texas. Her assignments included the 2019 mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, the memorial service for George Floyd in Houston, Texas, the state funeral of former President George H.W. Bush and the disappearance of Maleah Davis.

Her severe weather coverage included hurricanes Beryl and Laura and the February 2021 winter storm that caused widespread power and infrastructure failures across Texas.

Edsitty also hosted ABC Audio’s “Reclaimed: The Lifeblood of Navajo Nation” podcast and contributed to coverage produced by the ABC Owned Television Stations for Indigenous Heritage Month.

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