April 2, 2001 — After 21 years on St. Thomas, television production maven Jo Ann Newhart has quit the newly formed Channel 2 and is moving with husband Dean Crebbin to Florida.
Her official last day with Channel 2, owned by Jeffrey Prosser's Innovative Communications, was Sunday. But she said that throughout March she was working mainly on a consulting basis.
She also is trying to sell J. Newhart Video, Ltd. She started the business "in 1993 or 1994." When she began working full-time setting up Channel 2 two years ago, she turned over the management of the fledging production company to her husband.
She said they have a buyer interested and "we're in negotiations right now."
Newhart taught speech, theater and television in Pennsylvania before moving to the Virgin Islands. Her first job here was at WBNB, Channel 10. When the station was blown away by Hurricane Hugo in 1989, never to return, she went to work for St. Thomas-St. John Cable TV. She said when she got wind that cable founder Randy Knight was going to sell the station, she quit and opened her own production company.
Newhart said working on setting up Channel 2 "was a terrific challenge." She credited Prosser with the style and format of the station, which is fully digital.
"It's a very sophisticated facility," she said. "It's got everything in it. … Those kids (working at the station) have a terrific opportunity in front of them."
Newhart said her decision to leave was predicated on her husband's desire to move back to the mainland where they can play tennis and visit family, including a grandchild in Atlanta.
"We've already purchased a home in Englewood, Florida," she said. Moving day is scheduled for May 14, the last day they can leave with their beloved Labradors before American Airlines stops transporting animals for the summer.
