WKRG News 5 Names Mathangani Sports Director

Gerhard Mathangani has been named sports director for WKRG News 5. Mathangani replaces Simone Eli, who departed to take a sports anchor position at WPIX in New York. Mathangani joined WKRG in March 2023 and, as sports reporter/anchor, has helped lead the station’s award-winning coverage of local and regional sports. He has helped launch 5th Quarter, a revamped high school football highlight show, and Southeast Sports+, a nationally distributed sports talk show. Before joining WKRG, Mathangani spent more than a decade covering sports across Northeast Alabama. He began his career in 2008 as a sports anchor and reporter in the Oxford/Gadsden area before becoming sports director at WJXS-TV/WEAC-TV24 in Jacksonville, Alabama. He anchored nightly sportscasts, hosted and produced the award-winning Pigskin Roundup and served as an analyst for college football and basketball broadcasts on ESPN+. Mathangani also co-hosted High School Football Alabama’s “After the Game with Jon Holder.” He also served as a co-host and contributor on FOX Sports Radio in Gadsden, covering high school, college athletics and the Atlanta Braves. His coverage spanned high school and college athletics across Calhoun, Talladega, Cleburne, Etowah, Cherokee and St. Clair counties. A native of Homewood, Alabama, Mathangani is a graduate of Jacksonville State University.