Summer is a time best spent lounging, soaking up the sun and catching up with friends old and new alike. So, with that in mind, we called up a guy well known throughout the Stateline to shoot the breeze with.
Derek Bayne has been with 13-WREX TV in Rockford for almost 15 years. Bayne started out in sports, which he will tell you he still loves, and then began news anchor duties during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bayne was offered the full-time news anchor chair after sub hosting and eventually decided, after initially turning the offer down, that he would relish the opportunity to dive into daily news duties (do not worry folks, he still covers sports too).
We discussed his early career (heads up broadcasting hopefuls, the pay is not the best to start), and how Bayne was able to find a job in North Carolina covering sports.
From there he moved to Rockford, and the rest is history.
Some career highlights for Bayne include covering the 2016 Chicago Cubs World Series championship, a celebration for Rockford native Fred VanVleet’s 2019 NBA Championship at Rockford City Market and being able to cover numerous high school state title and playoff teams around northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin.
Bayne and I also chat about his signature segment, “Destination Downtown.” The piece began as a way to highlight local businesses and towns after the economic downturn of the pandemic and has grown in popularity ever since.
We also discussed the ever-changing landscape that is media in 2026, and how Bayne thinks the television medium will continue to evolve to meet new viewing standards.
Our chat ends with Bayne mentioning how important local news is, which focuses only on the facts (cannot argue with that, we are an NPR affiliate, after all).
Listen to the full conversation with WREX-TV’s Derek Bayne in the link above.
