March 19, 2023
Wednesday, March 22, 2023 UPDATE:
Greetings:
One of America’s longest tenured major market news directors is leaving her station, just a few days after her 32nd anniversary as news director.
Bending
GAIL BENDING, who’s been the ND for CBS owned WJZ-TV in Baltimore since 1991, posted this note to Facebook. It does NOT address the circumstances behind her departure, but does say she is ‘saddened to have to leave’. I’ve emailed Gail asking for more details and will include her response in the next report.
Her station biography is, as of this writing, still on the WJZ.com website.
While I do not have definitive records, her tenure of 32 years as a major market news director, to my recollection, is second only to the 35 year tenure of WISH-TV (Indianapolis) news director LEE GILES who retired in 2003 after a total of 40 years at the station.
Also today, some management promotions at WNBC-TV in New York, where ND AMY MORRIS was promoted to Senior VP of News, overseeing both WNBC and Telemundo’s WNJU-TV. DAVID MANNEY was promoted from Assistant ND to news director for WNBC, while ALEXA RODRIGUEZ was also upped to ND for WNJU from Assistant ND.
Much more on these changes in this NBC news release.
We’ll have more in our full edition this weekend.
regards,
Rick Gevers
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Greetings:
Know that you are not alone…there are NO perfect brackets left in this year’s basketball tournament.
But there is a lot of news in this week’s newsletter, with TWO new news directors named this week with FIVE new openings.
That takes our list of open ND jobs to 40!
ONE of those open jobs is our only paid ad this week…for the FOX station in Tulsa.
And we welcome Octopus Newsroom as a new advertiser. Check out its ad below…and visit their booth at NAB next month. Octopus develops solutions for modern newsrooms worldwide that streamlines the entire news production workflow.
ONE new GM to tell you about.
And lots of items in Names in the News, including the retirement of a longtime Louisiana newsman (and one time New Orleans ND), a belated report on a new director for Kneeland, and a few items you might have missed: reports of cuts at Sinclair stations, and a small market station suspending its newscasts because of staff illness.
All that…and more…below.
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Newly Named News Director:
Morgan
KCTV, Kansas City, MO…JOSH MORGAN moves from sister Gray CBS affiliate WANF-TV in Atlanta to become the next news director here. He’s currently the managing editor there, and joined a year ago as Director of Digital Media. He is a former GM and ND for WREX-TV in Rockford, IL. Josh becomes the 10th ND in 13 years here and replaces KATE GLOVER who left last month after one year as ND.
Dillard
WYFF-TV, Greenville, SC…in another inter-company move, WILL DILLARD moves to this Hearst NBC affiliate from WJCL-TV (ABC) in Savannah, GA. He had been the Assistant ND there before being promoted to ND in 2020. He also worked at Hearst’s WPBF-TV in West Palm Beach and in Miami. Will replaces AKILI FRANKLIN who was promoted to a corporate news management recruitment job for Hearst.
New News Director Openings:
Keenan
KTVT/KTXA-TV, Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX…our Thursday update also reported SCOTT KEENAN’s departure from this CBS duopoly after six months as VP/News. Here’s the note from GM RAQUEL AMPERO. It was Scott’s second time at KTVT: he was the Ass’t ND here from 2004-2006 and had been the SW Bureau Chief for CBS News before taking the VP/News job. He’s also worked for CBS in Chicago (WBBM-TV & the bureau) and in Miami.
Belilty
WLTV, Miami, FL…SAMUEL BELILTY has left this Univision owned station after six years as news director. A company spokesman issued a short statement, reprinted in this item from Media Moves. Samuel has also run Univision newsrooms in Dallas, San Antonio, and Fresno, where he began as the creative services director before becoming news director.
WJCL-TV, Savannah, GA…as noted above, WILL DILLARD is off to sister Hearst station WYFF-TV in Greenville, SC after two plus years as ND for this ABC affiliate.
Chaverri
KFTV, Fresno, CA…ISIS CHAVERRI has left this Univision station after just over one year as news director. She’s returning to the American Red Cross, this time as a regional communications director in Indianapolis. She had spent more than three years in a similar role for the Red Cross in Chicago where she had once been ND of the Univision station there. Her complete work history is here.
Baker
WQAD-TV, Moline, IL…after more than 13 years as news director, ALAN BAKER is leaving this Tegna owned ABC affiliate. Here’s the note he sent to his staff this week. Alan began as a photographer, working in Ft. Myers, Columbus, OH, Nashville, and San Jose/San Francisco. He returned home to WQAD in 2002, beginning as a photographer before moving to the assignment desk, then Assistant ND before replacing BILL CAREY as ND.
Paid Help Wanted Ad:
Other News Management Openings:
ASSISTANT NEWS DIRECTOR:
WTVD-TV, Durham, NC (listed 1/29/23)
WOWK-TV, Charleston/Huntington, WV (listed 2/12/23)
WROC-TV, Rochester, NY (relisted 1/15/23)
KRGV-TV, Weslaco, TX (AM EP, relisted 2/19/23)
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER:
News 12 Long Island, Bethpage, NY (listed 1/15/23)
News 12 Edison, NJ (Spec. Projects. Prod., listed 1/15/23)
KTLA-TV, Los Angeles, CA (listing revised 1/8/23)
WPHL-TV, Philadelphia, PA (Morning EP, listed 3/19/23)
KIAH-TV, Houston, TX (AM/Special Projects EP, listed 2/19/23)
KGO-TV, San Francisco, CA (listed 1/29/23)
WTTG-TV, Washington, DC (listed 2/5/22)
KNXV-TV, Phoenix, AZ (listed 2/12/23)
KDVR/KWGN-TV, Denver, CO (Morning EP, listed 3/19/23)
KXTV. Sacramento, CA (listed 1/15/23)
WTVD-TV, Durham, NC (listed 1/29/23)
WNCN-TV, Raleigh, NC (relisted 1/22/23)
WRTV, Indianpolis, IN (relisted 1/15/23)
WXIN/WTTV, Indianapolis, IN (listed 1/22/23)
WTVF-TV, Nashville, TN (relisted 1/15/23)
KSTU-TV, Salt Lake City (relisted 1/15/23)
KTVX-TV, Salt Lake City (listed 2/25/23)
WBNS-TV, Columbus, OH (listed 1/15/23)
WTIC-TV, Hartford, CT (relisted 1/15/23)
WCPO-TV, Cincinnati, OH (relisted 1/15/23)
WAVY/WVBT-TV, Norfolk, VA (relisted 1/15/23)
WWL-TV, New Orleans (AM EP, listed 1/15/23)
WNYT-TV, Albany, NY (listed 2/12/23)
KJRH-TV, Tulsa, OK (listed 2/25/23)
WLTX-TV, Columbia, SC (PM EP, listing modified 1/15/23)
WHEC-TV, Rochester, NY (relisted 2/19/23)
KRGV-TV, Weslaco, TX (AM EP, relisted 2/19/23)
KIVI-TV, Boise, ID (relisted 2/19/23)
WTXL-TV, Tallahassee, FL (Digital EP, relisted 1/15/23)
WFFT-TV, Ft. Wayne, IN (relisted 2/19/23)
WKBT-TV, La Crosse, WI (listed 1/29/23)
KRIS-TV, Corpus Christi, TX (listed 2/25/23)
WTVO/WQRF-TV, Rockford, IL (relisted 1/15/23)
KFDX/KJTL-TV, Wichita Falls, TX (listed 1/22/23)
More News Management Openings:
Listed 3/12/23:
WTKR-TV, Norfolk, VA (Manager of Enterprise Content)
Listed 3/5/23:
WINK-TV, Ft. Meyers, FL (Digital News Director)
KVEO-TV, Brownsville, TX (Digital News Manager)
Listed 2/5/23:
Gray Television, Remote (Producers for Magazine Program)
Listed 1/9/23:
KPRC-TV, Houston, TX (Livestream Producer)
KSTU-TV, Salt Lake City, UT (Assignment Desk Manager)
Names in the News:
Slaughter
Veteran Louisiana newsman and one-time New Orleans news director CHRIS SLAUGHTER is retiring on April 1. He’s spent the last five years as an executive producer for Hearst’s WDSU-TV in New Orleans, but spent the bulk of his career (34 years) in a variety of roles at WWL-TV (CBS) there, including three years as news director. He also worked in Baton Rouge as the assistant ND and EP/Investigative for WAFB-TV for six years.
Hammel
We are two months late (apologies to all!) in reporting that SHANNON HAMMEL is the new executive director for the Kneeland Project. Her appointment came in early January. She has an extensive newsroom background, having worked at stations in Dallas, Columbus, OH, Lansing, MI, and Denver, where she will continue as research director for Nexstar’s KDVR/KWGN-TV (Fox/CW).
TVspy.com reports that Sinclair is making cuts at some of its stations, including eliminating some newscasts and replacing them with programs from Sinclair’s The National Desk.
WBKB-TV in Alpena, MI, has suspended its local newscasts due to an outbreak of illness among its staff. Owned by the Marks Group, it is affiliated with FIVE networks.
DirectTV is suing Nexstar in a dispute over retransmission fees.
CNN has hired TWO executive producers for its new but struggling morning newscast, CNN This Morning.
General Manager News and Notes:
Thomas
Tegna named TIM THOMAS as the next General Manager for its Jacksonville, duopoly, WTLV/WJXX-TV (NBC/ABC). It’s a return to Jacksonville for Tim, who earlier in his career was the news operations director. More recently, he was GM for Tegna’s KWES-TV in Midland-Odessa TX. He’s also worked in Atlanta and a number of other places.
Our List of Open News Director jobs:
Here’s our list of open ND jobs as of Sunday, March 19, 2023:
It’s unofficial, there may be others that are open, and some of these may have been filled. If you know of any in either category, please let me know: rick@rickgevers.com
KNBC-TV 100 Universal City Plaza, Bldg 2120 Universal City, CA 91608
KTTV 1999 S. Bundy Dr. Los Angeles CA 90025
WMAQ/WSNS-TV 454 N. Columbus Dr. Chicago, IL 60611
KTVT/KTXA-TV 5233 Bridge St. Fort Worth, TX 76103
WXIA-TV One Monroe Place NE Atlanta, Georgia 30324
WZDC-TV 4001 Nebraska Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20016 **
KIRO-TV 2807 3rd Ave. Seattle, WA 98121
KMGH-TV 123 E. Speer Blvd. Denver, CO 80203
WLTV 9405 NW 41st St, Doral, FL 33178 **
WBNS-TV 770 Twin Rivers Dr. Columbus, OH 43215
KVUE- TV 3201 Steck Avenue, Austin, TX 78757
WWMT-TV 590 West Maple St. Kalamazoo, MI 49008
WAVY-TV 300 WAVY Street Portsmouth, VA 23704
WLNE-TV 10 Orms St. Providence, RI 02904
KFTV 3239 W Ashlan Av. Fresno, CA 93722 **
KSEE/KGPE-TV 5035 E McKinley Ave. Fresno, CA 93727
WNEP-TV 16 Montage Mountain Rd. Moosic, PA 18507
KOKI-TV 2625 S Memorial Dr. Tulsa, OK 74129 (see ad above!)
KWCH-TV 2815 E. 37th Street North. Wichita, KS 67219
WISC-TV 7025 Raymond Rd. Madison, WI 53719
WTVG-TV 4247 Dorr St. Toledo, OH 43607
WJCL-TV 1375 Chatham Pkwy., 3rd floor Savannah, GA 31405
KNWA-TV 609 W. Dickson St. Suite 300, Fayetteville AR, 72701
WQAD-TV 3003 Park 16th Street Moline, Illinois 61265
KHGI-TV 1078 25 Road Axtell, NE 68924
WMBD/WYZZ TV 3131 N. University, Peoria, IL 61604
KMIZ-TV 501 Business Loop 70 E., Columbia MO 65201
KQDS-TV 2001 London Road Duluth, MN 55812
KMID/KPEJ-TV 1550 West I-20 Odessa TX 79763
WJET-TV 8455 Peach Street Erie, PA 16509
WGFL/WNBW/WMYG-TV 1703 NW 80th Blvd. Gainesville, FL 32606
WBUP/WKBP-TV 1705 Ash Street Suite 5 Ishpeming, MI 49849
WGEM-TV 513 Hampshire. Quincy, IL 62301
WWNY-TV 120 Arcade St. Watertown, NY 13601
KGNS-TV 120 W. Del Mar Blvd. Laredo TX 78041
KMVT-TV 1100 Blue Lakes Blvd North, Twin Falls, ID 83301
Delta News 837 Washington Ave Greenville, MS 38701
KAEF-TV 540 E Street Eureka, CA 95501
KYOU-TV 820 West 2nd Street; Ottumwa, IA 52501
KNOP-TV 402. S. Dewey. North Platte NE 69101
**: Spanish language station