Jason Knowles

Chuck Goudie’s formidable I-Team at WLS-Channel 7 is about to get some additional firepower.

Jason Knowles, who’s been a general assignment reporter at the ABC-owned station since 2009, is joining Goudie’s unit as a full-time investigative reporter, starting Jan. 20.

“We have been looking forward to having a consumer reporter join the I-Team for several years,” Goudie told me Thursday. “Jason knows his way around Chicago, has experience on the consumer beat and is an avid member of the Investigative Reporters and Editors Association. He makes a great addition to our team.”

A Cleveland native and graduate of Bowling Green State University, Knowles joined ABC 7 in 2004 as special projects producer. He previously worked at WTVG-TV in Toledo, Ohio, and WKAG-TV in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.

Chuck Goudie

Jennifer Graves, vice president and news director of ABC 7, cited Knowles’ work as an on-air investigative reporter at WTVG and his in-depth segments as special projects producer here in announcing the new assignment. “Jason is a tenacious reporter and knows how to dig up a good story,” she said in a statement. “He’ll be a valuable asset to the I-Team and will undoubtedly work well with Chuck Goudie, whose reputation for investigative journalism is outstanding.”

Goudie, a 33-year veteran of ABC 7, has been chief investigative reporter since 1990.