11Alive reporter found a new life and love in Atlanta!
In 2022, Cody Alcorn walked away from a 17-year broadcasting career in Greenville, South Carolina, to follow his heart to Atlanta.
“I started at Fox Carolina WHNS when I was 23 years old, working as the morning show anchor and then anchoring the 4, 5, 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts for 11 years,” he says. “It’s rare to stay that long at one station; you just don’t see that in this business.”
The Buckhead resident put it down as another step in a career he calls “unorthodox” from the beginning. “It was a fluke that I got into the business at all. I grew up farming and rodeoing in Missouri. I was on the rodeo team at University of Tennessee and wasn’t sure what I wanted to do when a friend who was a PR major suggested I try communications. I went the journalism route, graduated, got an internship and within six months I was in Greenville.”
That twist of fate led to years of success that also consumed most of his time. Along the way, he earned a Southeast Emmy, several awards from the Associated Press and an Anchor of the Year honor. The job might have lasted even longer had Alcorn not met his future partner who lived in Atlanta. During a visit to Atlanta, the two met briefly in 2019 and then reconnected over Facebook before engaging in some long-distance dating, but as the big 4-0 loomed, Alcorn was ready for a relationship that required relocating.
“I went to my news director and said, ‘I’m gonna quit. I’ve done everything I possibly could.’ People thought I was crazy to move down here without a job,” he says.
But within a few months after leaving South Carolina in 2022, Alcorn was on board with 11Alive WXIA as a community reporter, a job that puts him on the city’s streets and gives him the chance to interact with everyday people.
“That’s what energizes me,” he says. “I go to neighborhoods that are overlooked. My goal every day is to give a voice to people who don’t have a voice. I’ve seen a lot of issues and communities that need help, and I can bring attention to them. That’s what drives me.”
Now in his third year as a Buckhead resident, Alcorn is content covering the metro area and beyond—a job made easier through social media. “It’s been a game changer: I have more than 303,000 followers on Facebook. I’m the go-to guy for breaking news. When people ask me how I do it, I say you’ve got to be connected to the community. Social media is how you do it.”
And while many broadcasters look forward to moving up into a bigger market, Alcorn has no such ambition. “Atlanta is a great market. I try to live in the moment, and if opportunities come, I’ll explore all of them. Whatever I choose to do next, I want to be the best at it.”
One thing will definitely happen in the near future: Alcorn is set to marry his partner in November, proving that his choice to relocate wasn’t so crazy after all.
“It’s all worked out,” he says.
