May 28, 2024
Greetings:
Apologies for our tardy delivery, but a busy week here. Attended Pacers-Celtics Saturday night, the Indy 500 Sunday (all day!) and the Pacers-Celtics again last night. For good measure, going to the Indiana Fever game tonight!
And we had house guests.
But here it is!
Josef Newgarden practicing on 5/20/24. (Photo by Rick Gevers)
For many years, our Memorial Day edition salutes the winner of the Indianapolis 500. This year’s that’s JOSEF NEWGARDEN who became the first back to back winner since HELIO CASTRONEVES in 2001-2002.
Fun fact: Yesterday’s attendance of about 340,000 means that about one in every 1000 people in America were at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Among them: at least TWO current top 25 news directors and THREE former NDs. I suspect there were more.
Enough sports. We will NOT discuss Monday’s Pacers-Celtics game except to say that our attendance at the game is why our report is late.
A holiday week usually means a light edition, and that’s true this week.
Just ONE new opening, and NO newly named news directors, meaning our count of open ND jobs increases to 43.
There are some items in Names in the News, ONE obituary for a television executive, and some clarification on who’s running the CBS o-and-o in Detroit.
Have a great week.
Newly Named News Director:
For the second consecutive week, I am not aware of any new news directors. But I ALWAYS appreciate any tips from readers.
New News Director Opening:
Steve G.
KQDS-TV, Duluth, MN…this Coastal Television Broadcasting Group owned FOX affiliate has a posting on its website for a news director. Presumably that would be to replace STEVE GOODSPEED who came out of retirement two years ago to take that job. I emailed Steve last week without a response. I’ll let you know when there’s new information.
Other News Management Openings:
ASSISTANT NEWS DIRECTOR:
KUSA-TV, Denver, CO (relisted 4/14/24)
WVEC-TV, Norfolk, VA (listed 4/21/24)
WFTX-TV, Ft. Myers, FL (relisted 4/28/24)
WDKY-TV, Lexington, KY (listed 4/14/24)
WLTX-TV, Columbia, SC (relisted 5/19/24)
WSYR-TV, Syracuse, NY (relished 4/14/24)
WCYB-TV, Tri-Cities, TN & VA (listed 4/28/24)
KWES-TV, Midland, TX (listed 4/7/24)
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER:
WPIX-TV, New York, NY (listed 4/21/24)
KNBC-TV, Los Angeles, CA (relisted 4/14/24)
WFMZ-TV, Allentown, PA (Philadelphia market, listed 4/7/24)
KHOU-TV, Houston, TX (listed 5/19/24)
WDCA-TV, Washington, DC (relisted 5/19/24)
KPNX-TV, Phoenix, AZ (relisted 5/19/24)
WSNN-TV, Sarasota, FL (listed 4/14/24)
WFLA-TV, Tampa, FL (listed 5/5/24)
WTSP-TV, Tampa/St. Petersburg (AM EP, relisted 5/19/24)
KUSA-TV, Denver, CO (AM EP, relisted 5/19/24)
KCRA-TV, Sacramento, CA (listed 4/7/24)
KATU-TV, Portland, OR (Digital EP, listing modified 4/21/24)
Spectrum News 1, Raleigh NC (listed 5/12/24)
WNCN-TV, Raleigh, NC (listed 4/14/24)
WTHR-TV, Indianapolis, IN (AM EP, relisted 5/19/24)
KTVX/KUCW-TV, Salt Lake City, UT (listed 5/27/24)
KGTV, San Diego, CA (listed 5/5/24)
KSWB/KUSI-TV, San Diego, CA (listed 3/15/24)
WBNS-TV, Columbus, OH (AM EP, relisted 3/15/24)
WTIC-TV, Hartford, CT (relisted 3/15/24)
WTNH-TV, Hartford, CT (relisted 5/5/24)
WLWT-TV, Cincinnati, OH (listed 4/7/24)
WSPA/WYCW-TV, Spartanburg, SC (Lifestyle EP, listed 5/12/24)
WGAL-TV, Lancaster, PA (listed 4/7/24)
WTKR-TV, Norfolk, VA (relisted 4/28/24)
WVEC-TV, Norfolk, VA (AM EP, (relisted 3/15/24)
WXII-TV, Winston-Salem, NC (Weekend EP, listing revised 4/7/24)
WLKY-TV, Louisville, KY (PM EP, listed 4/7/24)
KRQE-TV, Albuquerque, NM (Nightside EP, listed 4/21/24)
WGRZ-TV, Buffalo, NY (listed 5/19/24)
WINK-TV, Ft. Myers, FL (Senior EP, listed 3/10/24)
WFTX-TV, Ft. Myers, FL (listed 5/5/24)
KVEO/KGBT-TV, Harlingen, TX (relisted 5/5/24)
KOAA-TV, Colorado Springs, CO (Digital EP, relisted 4/28/24)
KTSM-TV, El Paso, TX (relisted 4/14/24)
WKBT-TV, LaCrosse/Eau Claire, WI (listed 4/7/24)
KRIS-TV, Corpus Christi, TX (relisted 4/28/24)
MANAGING EDITOR:
WXIA-TV, Atlanta, GA (listed 3/17/24)
WJYZ-TV, Charlotte, NC (listed 3/17/24)
More News Management Openings:
Listed 5/13/24:
WTWO/WAVW-TV, Terre Haute, IN (News Assignments Manager)
Listed 5/5/24:
WJW-TV, Cleveland, OH (News Assignments Manager)
Listed 4/28/24:
KSDK-TV, St. Louis, MO (Digital Director)
Listed 3/17/24:
WXIA-TV, Atlanta, GA (Director of Special Projects)
WTIC-TV, Hartford, CT (Digital Director)
Relisted 3/17/24:
WBNS-TV, Columbus, OH (Director of Digital Content)
Listed 3/10/24:
KXXV/KRHD-TV. Waco/Bryan, TX
Obituary:
Reese
REBECCA (BECKY) REESE died earlier this month. She was just 58 years old and spent most of her career in television, most recently as Senior Vice President of broadcast television for Imagicomm Communications. More in this obituary.
Names in the News (and other stuff):
Drechsler
Former KNBC-TV (Los Angeles) investigative producer PHIL DRECHSLER has apparently reached a plea deal that would result in a greatly reduced sentence on child pornography charges. Details in this detailed story from Deadline.com. He worked at KNBC for eleven years before he was laid off last year. Full disclosure: I hired him as a photographer at WTOL-TV in Toledo in 1987
Covington
Former Philadelphia and Columbia, SC, news director turned educator RANDY COVINGTON has taken a voluntary retirement program from the University of South Carolina. Randy was nice enough to share this note with details of his past, present, and future. Randy’s been at (the other) USC since 2001 after 17 years as an ND and 15 years in other newsrooms. Friends can congratulate him via email by clicking here.
Univision’s ILIA CALDERON has been named the winner of RTDNA’s 2024 Paul White Award. She’ll be honored at next month’s RTDNA convention in Milwaukee. I’ll be there and hope you can attend as well.
Fulk
Finally, apologies to WXII-TV (Winston-Salem, NC) News Director LISA FULK. We told you last week she was honored by the American Red Cross for saving the life of a co-worker. In some versions of last week’s newsletter, I misspelled her name AND got the call letters of her station wrong. Not my best work…apologies to Lisa and to you.
General Manager News and Notes:
Lyons
Former news director turned general manager JENNIFER LYONS has a little more on her plate these days. Jennifer’s the GM for CBS owned WBBM-TV in Chicago and is now ‘helping out’ at CBS owned WWJ-TV in Detroit. That came from a spokesperson at CBS stations. Jennifer spent much of her career at WGN in a variety of roles, and had a brief stint as VP/News for NewsNation.
Our List of Open News Director jobs:
Here’s our list of open ND jobs as of Tuesday, May 28, 2024:
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
News 12 Bronx/Brooklyn, 930 Soundview Ave. Bronx, NY 10473
WFLD-TV 205 N. Michigan Ave. Chicago, IL 60601
WLS-TV 190 N State St. Chicago, IL, 60601
WFXT-TV 25 Fox Dr. Dedham, MA 02026
WXIA-TV One Monroe Place NE Atlanta, GA 30324
KPRC-TV 8181 Southwest Freeway Houston, TX 77074
WRC-TV 4001 Nebraska Avenue NW Washington, DC 20016
KGW-TV 1501 SW Jefferson Street Portland, OR 97201
KTVI/KPLR-TV 2250 Ball Drive St. Louis, MO 63146
WZTV 631 Mainstream Drive Nashville, TN 37228
KUTV 299 South Main Street, #150 Salt Lake City, UT 84111
Spectrum News Texas (based in Austin, TX)
WDAF-TV 3030 Summit Kansas City, MO 64108
WTIC-TV 285 Broad Street Hartford, CT 06115
WTKR-TV 720 Boush Street Norfolk VA 23510
WOLF-TV 1181 Highway 315 Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702 (News Manager)
WHAS-TV 520 W. Chestnut St. Louisville, KY 40202
WNYT-TV 715 North Pearl Street, Albany, NY 12204
KITV 801 South King Street | Honolulu, HI 96813
WZDX-TV 1309 N. Memorial Parkway Huntsville, AL 35801
KWKT-TV 8803 Woodway Dr., Woodway, TX 76712
WTOC-TV 1511 Chatham Center Dr. Savannah, GA 31405
KNVO-TV, 801 North Jackson Rd., McAllen TX 78501 **
KLEW-TV 2626 17th St, Lewiston, ID 83501
KYTX-TV 2211 ESE Loop 323. Tyler, TX 75701
KNDU/KNDO-TV 216 W. Yakima Ave. Yakima, WA 98902
WGXA-TV 599 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Macon, GA 31201
KHSL-TV 3460 Silverbell Rd. Chico, CA 95973
KDRV-TV 1090 Knutson Ave. Medford, OR 97504
KQDS-TV 2001 London Road Duluth, MN 55812
KXMB-TV 1811 N 15th St. Bismarck, ND 58501
KOSA-TV 4101 E. 42nd. Suite J-7. Odessa, TX. 79761
KIFI-TV 1915 N. Yellowstone Hwy. Idaho Falls, ID 83401
WTWO-TV 10849 N US Highway 41, Farmersburg, IN 47850
WDTV 5 Television Dr. Bridgeport, WV 26330
WTVY-TV 285 North Foster St., Dothan, AL 36303
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. N. Twin Falls, ID 83301
KGWN-TV, 2923 E. Lincolnway. Cheyenne, WY 82001
KYOU-TV 820 West 2nd Street; Ottumwa, IA 52501
KQTV 4000 Faraon St. Joseph, MO 64506
**: Spanish language station