Media Note: NBC5 Adds a New Hour — and a Familiar Face 

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• Courtesy of NBC5
• Jack Thurston and Liz Strzepa

For the first time, NBC5 will air a 4 p.m. newscast covering local news and weather in Vermont and northern New York. And to coanchor the hourlong weekday program, the local NBC affiliate has turned to a familiar face: longtime Vermont-based TV reporter Jack Thurston.

He'll share the screen with NBC5 reporter Liz Strzepa, who started working at the station's Upper Valley bureau in 2015. She currently reports out of the main studio in South Burlington and told Seven Days she's excited to anchor the new hourlong program.

Although new to NBC5, Thurston is no stranger to Vermont. He covered the state for WCAX-TV from 2002-2011 and for New England Cable News from 2011 until 2022, when he was laid off as the company shut down its Vermont bureau. NECN, a regional network, had a partnership with NBC5, so his stories sometimes aired on the local station.

After seven months away from reporting, Thurston told Seven Days he really missed it. He had begun to look into other options, such as corporate communications, but said that work didn't feel as important to him, especially in July, as he watched Vermont flood from his couch in Winooski.

"I really felt compelled to not be on the sidelines," he said. "There are way too many important stories to tell for me to sit at home."

The 4 p.m. newscast begins on September 11, though Thurston has already started at the station. In addition to anchoring, both he and Strzepa will also contribute reporting.