MOLINE, Ill. — Two-time Emmy Award winner Linda Swinford started at WQAD News 8 in March 2022 as an anchor and executive producer for Good Morning Quad Cities.
She loves meeting people because "everyone has a story." Linda also loved the instant camaraderie of our GMQC team. She's a veteran advocate, media mentor, creative collaborator and a runner, among other many skills.
Linda brings a lot of experience to our news team — she spent the majority of her journalism career in her hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, and in Washington, D.C. with ABC affiliates.
Recently, Linda took up anchoring News 8's 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts.
She was a live feature reporter for "Good Morning Cleveland" for ABC-5 in Cleveland and a general assignment reporter for ABC-7 in D.C.
She's also worked for the Department of Defense as an executive producer at the Pentagon Channel. In this role, Linda launched several TV and digital series on cooking, fitness, sports and documentaries for a global military audience.
Most recently, Linda was the creative director at MediaDC, where she manages multimedia content creation and distribution strategies for the Washington Examiner brand.
One of Linda's fun facts about herself is that she's been skydiving with the Army's Golden Knights. She's also dabbled in the wine industry, so reach out and let her know if there's a local winery for her to check out!
When Linda's not at the station, you can probably find her sleeping (which is a true luxury on the morning shift).
She and her husband love lazy naps with their two "fur beasts" George and Samson, an English Mastiff and an English Bulldog. She and her husband also love to travel, especially to Europe or a beach.
Got a story idea for Linda? You can reach her via email by clicking/tapping here. You can also find her on Twitter, @LindaWQAD.
Here are some of Linda's stories: