‘An amazing journey.’ Longtime TV anchor Nancy Cox is retiring from LEX 18.

Karla Ward
·2 min read

After 31 years at LEX 18, news anchor Nancy Cox has announced that she is retiring.

The Lexington NBC affiliate announced Cox’s departure Friday night.

In an interview posted on LEX 18’s website, Cox said she is “starting a new life” with her fiance and will be splitting her time between New York, Florida and Kentucky, where her two adult children live.

Cox said in an interview Saturday afternoon that her fiance, Justin Galli, travels for work, and “we want to be with each other at this stage in our lives.”

“I loved every day of going to work, but it’s a different time now,” she said. “I’m so thrilled to have this chance at another chapter in my personal life.”

Cox said in the WLEX interview that when she celebrated her 30th anniversary at the television station last year, “the seeds were growing even then about when it was time to walk away, and I just feel privileged that I got to do so on my terms, and it’s been an amazing journey.”

Cox has been on leave since late July, when she announced that she had recently become engaged to marry Galli. They’re planning a wedding in Kentucky in May, she said Saturday.

Cox is a native of Campbellsville who graduated from Western Kentucky University and in 1990 was crowned Miss Kentucky.

Nancy Cox, after she was hired to anchor WLEX-18’s Saturday morning newscast, June 23, 1992. The then-24-year-old Cox was a producer/reporter for WKYT-TV (Channel 27), WLEX’s top rival. A Campbellsville native and 1990 Miss Kentucky winner, she has been with WLEX ever since.
Nancy Cox, after she was hired to anchor WLEX-18’s Saturday morning newscast, June 23, 1992. The then-24-year-old Cox was a producer/reporter for WKYT-TV (Channel 27), WLEX’s top rival. A Campbellsville native and 1990 Miss Kentucky winner, she has been with WLEX ever since.

She started out at rival station WKYT and joined LEX 18 in 1992.

“I’ve far exceeded anything I dreamed of in this career,” Cox said in the LEX 18 interview posted Friday. “It was a calling early on, but then it became a passion just to tell people’s stories. And I got to do it in the place I love. I got to do it in my home, with some of the best friends I’ve ever had.”

She said Saturday that she’s open to other possibilities for future projects, but “it will be things that I control, things that I choose, things that interest me.”

She said she’s recently done some spots on Court TV, which is also owned by WLEX’s parent company, the E.W. Scripps Co., and she said she was recently interviewed for a true crime documentary about an old Kentucky case, which she enjoyed.

LEX 18 Vice President and General Manager Andrew Shenkan said in a statement on the station’s website that Cox “will always be part of the LEX 18 family.

“Her immense contributions and service to both our newsroom and communities in Central & Eastern Kentucky have been unparalleled and she leaves behind a legacy of excellence,” he said.

Lexington Mayor Pam Miller, left, UK Women’s Basketball Coach Bernadette Mattox, Fayette County Sheriff Kathy Witt, and WLEX News Anchor Nancy Cox were photographed in Lexington on May 7, 1999, for a story about how high-profile moms juggle their public and private lives.
Lexington Mayor Pam Miller, left, UK Women’s Basketball Coach Bernadette Mattox, Fayette County Sheriff Kathy Witt, and WLEX News Anchor Nancy Cox were photographed in Lexington on May 7, 1999, for a story about how high-profile moms juggle their public and private lives.
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nancy Cox turned her living room into a home studio where she anchored the evening news. She regularly changed the flowers and photos behind her. And viewers noticed.
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nancy Cox turned her living room into a home studio where she anchored the evening news. She regularly changed the flowers and photos behind her. And viewers noticed.