Nah she might be. A lot of the old ocms like Warren Madden and that Mancuso dude (now at accueather) have been freelances like around 2005 before they left. Perhaps Sam will be leaving soon as well? Or is she on at late night?
Samantha does a lot more than you'd think. She's a fill-in, much like Mike Seidel is; whenever someone has off on PM Edition or Weather Center, Samantha, Adam Berg, or Kim Cunningham are on call as the likely fill-ins. Also, Samantha does regular segments from TWC's "Digital Media Center" highlighting weather events that are covered on weather.com.