"I'm only the third person to have the job in 54 years," said McCune, who has been anchoring the nighttime sportscasts. "That's one of the things that makes this place special. There is a lot of history, a lot of big shoes to fill and shoes to build on."
Cioffi, whose final day is July 24, has been the sports director for 19 years and is moving to Palm Springs Calif. He replaced the station's original sports director Tony Adams, who served 35 years at the CBS affiliate.

While Cioffi was responsible for anchoring the weekday 6 p.m. newscast, McCune will be presenting both the 6 and 11 p.m. reports on WCAX and the 10 p.m. sports segments on WCAX-Extra, also known as Channel 3.2, Station President Peter Martin said.
McCune, 37, has been with the South Burlington station since November 1999. He is planning to relocate from Plattsburgh, N.Y. to South Burlington.

The San Diego native graduated in 1992 from Dartmouth where he majored in government and played as an offensive lineman on the varsity football team. He worked in radio in Bellows Falls and West Lebanon, N.H. before joining WNNE-TV, an NBC affiliate in White River Junction, in 1996 as a night photographer and production assistant. He was named Sports Director in August 1998 and moved to WCAX 15 months later.

Martin said one of McCune’s first official acts will be to hire some staff. Besides Cioffi’s departure, Mike McGill, the weekend sports anchor, is leaving the station on Sunday.

“Mike (McCune) has to play a role in that,” Martin said about finding a replacement. Part-time sportscaster Seth Leavitt is expected to be elevated to fulltime status, McCune said. Shawna Lidsky will continue to anchor early mornings.“J.J. had a deep bench,” Martin said.
McGill plans to work for a pharmaceutical company and is moving with his wife Shannon and their 5 1/2-month-old son, Jack, to Plattsburgh.

"This is going to give me more time with my wife and baby. The sports business is a lot of nights and a lot of weekends. Your priorities change when you have a little one," said McGill, 29, of Bolton, who joined WCAX as a sports reporter in 2003 and became weekend anchor a year later.