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Vince Bevacqua has enjoyed his 3 1/2 years in Bangor. But now he’s going back to the region he calls home and a TV station he grew up watching.
For the past 18 months, Bevacqua has been co-anchor of WLBZ’s 6 p.m. newscast. But he’s leaving Aug. 21 to become morning anchor at WMUR-TV in Manchester, N.H.
Manchester is a considerably larger market than Bangor, the sixth-biggest station in the Boston market. But Bevacqua said he, his wife, Laurie, and their 1-year-old son, Luke, are making the move primarily to be near family and old friends.
Bevacqua grew up in the Massachusetts border towns of Pepperell and Groton, and went to college in Fitchburg. He and friends would go to the movies in Nashua or shopping at malls in Manchester, so southern New Hampshire is his old stomping grounds.
“I’ll be able to take my son, Luke, and bring him to all the places where I went, and let him experience them for himself, which is very satisfying to me,” the anchorman said.
Bevacqua also has a history as a viewer of WMUR, which he could pick up over the air, and recalled watching coverage of presidential primaries and the Pamela Smart murder trial. So the move almost seems like destiny to him.
“When I was in grad school, MUR was one of the stations I saw myself working at someday,” he said.
Bevacqua’s duties at WMUR, which start Aug. 24, will be as morning anchor and reporter. He doesn’t expect to be on the air immediately, but he and the other new morning anchor will make their debut Aug. 31.
“When I took the anchor job [at WLBZ], the intent was that I would be able to go out and report,” he said. “But there hasn’t been a lot of time to do that. This will guarantee that I can do reporting on a daily basis, to keep my skills sharp. I would do live stories for the noon newscast and tape stories for broadcast later in the day.”
Michael O’Neill, news director at WLBZ, understands the reasons for Bevacqua’s departure.
“I hate to see Vince go,” O’Neill said. “He’s done a great job for the community and the station. But this is a great opportunity for him to be close to his family.”
Bevacqua has served as 6 p.m. co-anchor with Kimberly Brown since January 1997, when he replaced Rory Johnston. Before that, he had served as co-anchor of the 11 p.m. newscast and as a reporter at WLBZ since coming to Bangor in April 1995.
Before becoming a broadcast journalist, Bevacqua worked for four years as a social worker in Massachusetts, after graduating with a psychology degree from Fitchburg State College in Massachusetts. He went on to graduate school at Emerson College in Boston. He then worked at Metro News, a cable news program in Brockton, Mass., for 1 1/2 years before coming to Bangor.
“This is where I really learned the business,” he said. “And I got to learn at what I consider to be the best TV news operation in all of Maine. I’ve been proud of the work we’ve done here, and not all broadcast journalists can say that.”
O’Neill is already seeking Bevacqua’s replacement.
“We’ve opened up a search for his position, and hope to have his replacement on board before he leaves,” he said.
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