Who is Boston 25′s new morning anchor? Meet Nicole Gabe.

Nicole Gabe, a broadcast journalist who previously worked in Fort Myers, Fl., joined the morning news team at WFXT-TV (Channel 25) as an anchor this week.

Gabe spent five years at the Fort Myers-based WINK News, where she started as a reporter and rose to become an anchor. She is joining Boston 25 after a series of departures from the station earlier this year, including morning anchor Elizabeth Hopkins, evening anchor Vanessa Welch, and news director Sarah Burgess.

“I am so excited to be here. I have already been exploring the different areas in each of the communities,” Gabe said when Boston 25 announced she would join the team on-air.

Gabe graduated from Virginia Tech in 2019, where she studied journalism and political science. She then joined WINK News, where she reported on breaking news including the disappearance and killing of Gabby Petito and the collapse of the Surfside, Fla., condominium that killed 98 people, according to a news release. She also covered the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in 2022.

“Boston 25 is proud to have Nicole join an already strong team of anchors, reporters, news directors, and production teams,” said Todd Brown, Boston 25 vice president and general manager, in a statement. “Her focus on telling the stories viewers need to see and her commitment to her community make her a great fit for our team.”

In addition to introducing the new morning anchor, Boston 25 announced earlier this week that it was expanding its news programming every day. The station will now air news from 11 am to 1 pm and from 4 pm to 7 pm in addition to its previous hours. That means Boston 25 will air programming for a total of 13 hours per day.

Boston 25 did not give a reason why it expanded its hours. But running more news can be a way to save costs, as it is typically cheaper to run more original programming than paying to syndicate other content.

The changes come as the station’s owners have cut costs in other ways. Current and former employees at the station told the Globe earlier this year that factors such as disputes with the station’s quality of content, overwhelming workloads, and pay and job cuts have led employees to leave.

The employees also said the future of the station is uncertain after a planned sale to a hedge fund fell through last year. Boston 25 is part of Cox Media Group, which owns local TV stations across the country and is ultimately owned by the private equity firm Apollo Global Management. The owners have also laid off staff in Boston and at other stations across the country.

In addition to Gabe, the station also hired a news director to replace Burgess, who left earlier this year. Scott Isaacs, who most recently spent seven years as the news director at NBC 10 WJAR in Providence, joined Boston 25 this summer. Previously Isaacs spent 13 years at WCVB-TV (Channel 5) in Boston.

Aidan Ryan can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @aidanfitzryan.