June 21, 2021
Greetings:
Grab your favorite beverage and settle in for a very full newsletter.
SEVEN! new news directors were named this week while FOUR jobs opened up, THREE because the incumbents took new jobs.
Those shuffles results in 35 ND openings, according to our list. And FOUR of them are featured in Paid Help Wanted ads.
We’ve got ONE obituary for a legendary Hawaiian broadcaster.
THREE GMs to tell you about, with the promotion of ONE of them creating one of the four ND openings mentioned above.
In Names in the News:
New jobs for former NDs in markets large and small. Scripps announces an OTT statewide network, and we’ll tell you about a top 25 market news director who won an EMMY. For reporting!
All that and much more below.
Newly Named News Directors:
Jacob
KNXV-TV, Phoenix, AZ…in the first of THREE UPDATES this week, you learned that MITCH JACOB was returning to Phoenix as ND for this Scripps owned ABC affilaite. New today: The staff note from GM ANITA HELT. Mitch most recently was ND for WSMV-TV in Nashville and once was ND at KPHO-TV in Phoenix. He’s also held that job in Washington, Columbus, OH, Wichita, Toledo and Harlingen, TX. At KNXV replaces MARK CASEY who decided to step down in March.
Bruce
KOMO-TV, Seattle, WA…another UPDATE told you that PHIL BRUCE returns to the West Coast as ND for this Sinclair owned ABC affiliate. He’s been the ND for Sinclair’s KTUL-TV in Tulsa for the last five years. His Linkedin page fills in the rest of his career history. Phil replaces BILL DALLMAN who started earlier this month as GM for KARE-TV (NBC), the Tegna station in his hometown of Minneapolis.
Johns
WBFF-TV, Baltimore, MD…DAVID JOHNS stays at Sinclair as he becomes news director for this FOX affiliate. Here’s the note the company’s SCOTT LIVINGSTON sent to the other NDs. It’s a busy time for David as he and his wife are expecting their second child this week. David’s been the Bureau Chief for the Sinclair Washington DC bureau for the last three years and was an EP at WJLA-TV before that. He’s worked for two San Diego stations, as well as in Sacramento and Santa Barbara. At WBFF, he replaces MATT FAHEY who was forced to step down after four months as ND due to a death in his family.
Boers
WXMI-TV, Grand Rapids, MI…DAN BOERS moves across town as the next news director for this Scripps’ owned FOX affiliate. New: this story from the WXMI website. Dan’s spent 24 years (in two stints) at WOOD-TV (Nexstar/NBC), the last 6 1/2 as ND. At WXMI, he replaces BROOKS BLANTON who left for the ND job at WCCB-TV (CW) in Charlotte. Dan’s only the FOURTH ND in the 22 years WXMI has produced news.
Reynard
WKBT-TV, LaCrosse, WI…congratulations to CHRISTI REYNARD who’s been named ND for this Morgan Murphy Media station. This from the WKBT website. She’s been the Assistant ND for WHNT-TV (Nexstsar/CBS) in Huntsville, having worked there for the last 15 years. At WKBT, she replaces ANNE PAPPE who is retiring after more than 30 years at WKBT, where she also held the title of station manager.
Rosen
WFXG-TV, Augusta, GA…MARK ROSEN returns to Augusta as ND for this Lockwood FOX affiliate. He’s been the ND for Gray’s WTVM-TV (ABC) in Columbus, GA for the past three years. Mark began as a producer at WJBF-TV in Augusta, where he later served as ND. He’s also been an ND in Burlington, VT, and replaces DAVID WILLIAMS who was promoted to ND at Lockwood’s KAKE-TV in Wichita.
Austin
KTXS-TV, Abilene, TX…BRETT AUSTIN will be the next news director for this Sinclair owned ABC affiliate. Brett’s worked in many markets (including Dallas and San Antonio) and had a long career in sports production, including helping launch the SEC Network. His Linkedin page has the details. This job opened in January when JAMIE BURCH left to become the Assistant ND at KXXV-TV in Waco.
New News Director Openings:
Davey
KMSP/WTTC-TV, Minneapolis, MN…you learned via our Thursday UPDATE that MARIAN (MIM) DAVEY is being bumped to GM for this FOX o-and-o. She’s been the ND there since 2013 and has worked at KMSP for 20 years. Mim, a Minneapolis native, also worked for 14 years at WCCO-TV (CBS) in Minneapolis. She replaces SHEILA OLIVER who was promoted to general manager for FOX’s Seattle station, KCPQ-TV.
WOOD-TV, Grand Rapids, MI…you learned above that DAN BOERS left after 20 years (in two stints) at this Nexstar owned NBC affiliate, the last 6 1/2 as ND. He’s going to cross-town WXMI-TV (Scripps/Fox) as news director.
Maliska
WEEK-TV, Peoria, IL…GAVIN MALISKA has left this Quincy owned NBC affiliate after not quite a year as news director. WEEK does separate newscasts on a digital sub channel called HOI-ABC You can learn more about this job in the Paid Help Wanted ad just below (as well as ads for news director openings in Salt Lake City, Norfolk, and Duluth, MN).
WTVM-TV, Columbus, GA…the ND job is open here to replace MARK ROSEN. You read above that he is returning to Augusta, GA, as ND for WFXG-TV, the Lockwood owned FOX affiliate there.
Paid Help Wanted Ads:
News Director, WEEK-TV, Peoria, IL:
WEEK Television, the NBC and ABC affiliate in Peoria, Illinois, has an immediate opening for a News Director to lead our award-winning teams.
Our News Director must be able to drive all aspects of this dual operation. WEEK-TV produces more than 50 hours of local news a week and provides continuous coverage on all digital platforms. The successful candidate must have a proven track record of journalism excellence with the ability to guide and inspire our employees.
The WEEK Television News Director oversees all daily aspects of both news operations. You must have solid news judgement, the ability to uphold our expectation of true unbiased journalism, and the ability to train and mentor our staff in a way that will strengthen our teams and motivate them to excellence. You must be able to adjust quickly and make sound decisions that best reflect our brands and the communities we serve.
The News Director will work closely with the GM and other managers to ensure continued success of both operations.
Peoria is the largest city on the Illinois River. Its beautiful riverfront is home to dozens of festivals and events year-round. The Peoria Civic Center hosts a variety of entertainment productions from top-selling musicians, Broadway musicals, and even Monster trucks! Sports fans are also right at home in Peoria which is home to both minor league baseball and hockey teams.
Learn why Quincy Media is recognized as one of the best in the business by visiting www.quincymediacareers.com. If you’re passionate about leading a team of creative, capable, and accomplished journalists, email your cover letter and resume to:
Jim McKernan
Vice President / General Manager, WEEK-TV
jmckernan@week.com
WEEK Television, Inc is an Equal Opportunity Employer
News Director, WDIO-TV, Duluth, MN:
WDIO-TV News Channel 10/13, the award-winning ABC affiliate of Hubbard Broadcasting in Duluth, MN needs an experienced News Director with a history of success in leading broadcast and multi-media news operations.
We emphasize investigative style news and original hyper-local reporting. This position requires a strong leader to help keep this station at the top of the market.
As the leader of this multi-platform operation, the News Director is responsible for leading and managing the planning, production and presentation of news, weather and sports. This position is also responsible for defining and maintaining ethical, editorial, artistic and technical standards for broadcast news programs on WDIO and content on digital and social media platforms.
The successful candidate must motivate, inspire, engage and lead both an experienced, high performing team as well as green talent. We are looking for a leader who can build off WDIO’s legacy, creating a vision for the future, and supporting our ‘with you for life’ brand.
Set on beautiful Lake Superior, Duluth is in a vast region that is an outdoor paradise surrounded by pristine nature. The community is a combination of college town, tourist mecca, shipping/manufacturing, and regional healthcare center. A safe community with low cost yet high standards of living. WDIO is proud to be part of this community and we actively support community initiatives that help create positive change.
To learn more about the day-to-day duties and qualifications for this remarkable opportunity please see the full job description here:
Any questions? Please reach out to Hubbard Broadcasting’s Recruiting Manager, Michael Hammond at mhammond@bhi.com
News Director, WAVY-TV, Norfolk, VA:
Nexstar seeks its next News Director for its Norfolk, Virginia duopoly of WAVY-TV (NBC) and WVBT FOX43, one of the strongest local newsrooms in the country.
The ideal candidate will be a highly experienced News Director with well-developed leadership skills who is an innovative and dynamic leader. We seek a true champion of aggressive broadcast and digital news gathering with a proven track record of strategic, focused breaking news coverage. The candidate must possess excellent writing skills, news and ethical judgement, strong digital content understanding, community development and a passion to be the very best. A competitive, clear communicator who genuinely enjoys staff development and team building will stand out.
The News Director leads and supervises all aspects of news, weather, traffic and sports programming.
• Manages all aspects of the News Department (other than Production)
• Plans and manages staffing, training, and performance evaluations for the News Department.
• Makes decisions regarding hiring, evaluation, promotion and termination of employees.
• Develops news coverage strategy for the station and its website.
• Critiques newscasts daily to correct errors, improve coverage and provide mentoring feedback to news staff.
• Assigns projects to staff and verifies that deadlines are being communicated and met.
• Ensures achievement of viewer rating goals.
• Determines programming and evaluation of equipment needs to produce quality programming.
• Responds to coverage questions.
• Works with other senior station leaders to establish and reach station goals.
• Performs other duties as assigned.
Click here to learn more and apply.
Other News Management Openings:
ASSISTANT NEWS DIRECTOR:
KUSI-TV, San Diego, CA (relisted 6/13/21)
KTHV-TV, Little Rock, AR (listed 5/9/21)
WHNT-TV, Huntsville, AL (new listing this week)
KEZI-TV, Eugene, OR (listed 4/25/21)
HOI-ABC, Peoria, IL (listing modified 5/16/21)
KWES-TV, Midland, TX (listed 5/9/21)
KTTC-TV, Rochester, MN (listed 4/25/21)
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER:
News Nation, Chicago, IL (listed 5/16/21)
WHDH-TV, Boston, MA (EP/Investigations, listed 5/16/21)
WGCL-TV, Atlanta, GA (relisted 5/9/12)
KDVR-TV, Denver, CO (AM EP, listed 5/16/21)
WOIO/WUAB-TV, Cleveland, OH (AM EP, listed 5/23/21)
WTTV/WXIN-TV, Indianapolis, IN (listing revised 5/2/21)
WNCN-TV, Raleigh, NC (PM EP, relisted 6/13/21)
KSHB-TV, Kansas City, MO (listed 5/31/21)
WDAF-TV, Kansas City, MO (Lifestyle show, relisted 5/9/21)
WCMH-TV, Columbus, OH (listed 6/13/21)
WXIX-TV, Cincinnati, OH (listed 5/31/21)
WSPA-TV, Spartanburg, SC (EP/Digital Content, listed 5/23/21)
KLAS-TV, Las Vegas, NV (listed 6/13/21)
KXAN-TV, Austin, TX (Digital EP, listed 5/23/21)
WXMI-TV, Grand Rapids, MI (listing revised 5/9/21)
WIVB-TV, Buffalo, NY (listed 5/31/21)
KSEE/KGPE-TV, Fresno, CA (listed 5/2/21)
WKRG-TV, Mobile, AL (listed 6/6/21)
KARK/KLRT-TV, Little Rock, AR (listed 6/6/21)
WHNT/WHDF-TV, Huntsville, AL (listed 6/13/21)
KVEO-TV, Brownsville, TX (Digital EP, listed 6/13/21)
WSAV-TV, Savannah, GA (listed 4/18/21)
KTSM-TV, El Paso, TX (relisted 4/25/21)
WJTV, Jackson, MS (listed 5/2/21)
WJHL-TV, Johnson City, TN (Digital EP, relisted 6/13/21)
KLKN-TV, Lincoln, NE (AM EP, relisted 5/16/21)
KRIS-TV, Corpus Christi, TX (listed 4/11/21)
KAAL-TV, Rochester, MN (listed 4/18/21)
More News Management Openings:
New listing this week:
KTVX-TV, Salt Lake City, UT (Digital Content Director)
Relisted 6/6/21:
WKRG-TV, Mobile, AL (Digital Content Manager)
Listed 5/23/21:
WKOW-TV, Madison, WI, (Content Manager)
KOLR-TV, Springfield, MO (Digital Content Manager)
WSYR-TV, Syracuse, NY (Digital Content Manager)
Listed 5/16/21:
News Nation, Chicago, IL (Social Media Manager)
Listed 4/25/21:
Spectrum Networks NY1 Senior Manager, News and Content
Obituary:
Kekaula
Sad news this weekend from Hawaii as ROBERT KEKAULA died Saturday. He was 56. He’d been the Managing Editor for KITV-TV, Allen Media’s ABC affiliate in Honolulu, but was better known for his many years as a sportscaster. ND JANICE GIN summed up his impact in this email to me late last night. The station reported his passing here, and added this remembrance, while the local newspaper had reaction from others.
Names in the News:
Burns
VICKIE BURNS joins the Black News Channel as its next Senior Vice President of Content. Vickie most recently was ND for Nexstar’s WPIX-TV (CW) in New York City. She had consulted the station when Tribune owned it and has spent much of her career working for NBC owned stations in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington.
Swann
KRYSTAL SWANN has been promoted from Nightside Executive Producer to Assistant News Director for Gray’s WBRC-TV in Birmingham. Here’s the note from News Director SHANNON ISBELL to her staff. Before her two year stint as the Nightside EP, Krystal was the evening assignment manager. Earlier she produced the morning news for WVTM-TV (NBC) in Birmingham.
Baldwin
MICHAEL BALDWIN joins Gray’s WTVG-TV (ABC) in Toledo as its new Assistant ND. We told you in May that Michael was leaving Gray’s WDTV in Bridgeport, VA, after a year as news director ‘for a job to be announced soon’. Before Bridgeport, Michael was a reporter and Saturday anchor at Gray’s WXIX-TV (FOX) in Cincinnati. He’s also worked in Cleveland and many other markets.
Scripps is launching a statewide news network in Florida, available over-the-top (OTT) in every TV market in the state. The Florida 24 Network will air real-time, enterprise reporting from Scripps’ stations in the Miami, Tampa, West Palm Beach, Tallahassee and Fort Myers markets. More here.
Carl
And it’s possible most of the reporters in the Lower Great Lakes Emmy region are jealous of WISH-TV (Capital City Broadcasting/CW) News Director AL CARL. That’s because he won an EMMY for his reporting efforts during riots in downtown Indianapolis in May, 2020. Al jumped in as part of an ‘all hands on deck’ situation and reported multiple live shots during WISH’s continuing coverage.
General Manager News and Notes:
If you were paying attention above, you learned that MARIAN (MIM) DAVEY is being promoted to GM for Fox’s KMSP/WTTC-TV in Minneapolis. She’s been the ND there for eight years, has worked there for 20, and earlier worked at WCCO-TV in Minneapolis. Congrats, Mim!
Baronet
JAMES BARONET has been named VP/GM for Nexstar’s KSNT-TV (NBC) and several other Nexstar properties in Topeka. More details in the company’s press release.
And congratulations to WVVA-TV‘s FRANK BRADY who is retiring as GM for Quincy’s NBC affiliate serving Bluefield–Beckley–Oak Hill, WV, and parts of southwestern Virginia. He’s been there more than 15 years and has been in our industry for 47 years!
Our Full List of Open ND Jobs:
Here’s our list of open ND jobs as of Sunday, June 20, 2021:
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
WCBS-TV 530 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019
KTRK-TV 3310 Bissonnet, Houston TX 77005
WCVB-TV 5 TV Place Needham, MA 02494
KMSP/WTTC-TV 11358 Viking Dr, Eden Prairie, MN 55344
WSMV-TV 5700 Knob Road, Nashville, TN, 37209
KUTV 299 South Main St. # 150, Salt Lake City, UT 84111 (see ad above!)
WHNS-TV 21 Interstate Court Greenville, SC 29615
WFOX/WJAX-TV 11700 Central Pkwy., Suite 2 | Jacksonville, FL 32224
WAVY-TV 300 WAVY Street Portsmouth, VA 23704 (see ad above!)
WTKR-TV 720 Boush Street Norfolk VA 23510
WOOD-TV 120 College Ave. SE Grand Rapids, MI 49503
WNEP-TV 16 Montage Mountain Rd, Moosic, PA 18507
WHAS-TV 520 West Chestnut Street Louisville, KY 40202
WYMT-TV 199 Black Gold Blvd. Hazard, KY 41701
WCHS-TV 1301 Piedmont Rd.. Charleston, WV 25301
WHAM-TV 4225 West Henrietta Rd., Rochester NY 14623
KNVO-TV, 801 North Jackson Rd., McAllen TX 78501 **
WCIA-TV 509 S. Neil St., Champaign, IL 61820
WVLA/WGMB-TV 10,000 Perkins Road Baton Rouge, LA 70810
WFFF/WVNV-TV 298 Mountain View Dr, Colchester, VT 05446
WHBF-TV 231 18th St., Rock Island, IL 61201
KYTX-TV 2211 E SE Loop 323, Tyler, TX 75701
WWTV/WWUP-TV P.O. Box 627, Cadillac Michigan 49601
KRIS-TV 301 Artesian Street Corpus Christi, TX 78401
WLTZ-TV 6140 Buena Vista Rd.. Columbus, GA 31907
WRBL-TV 1350 13th Avenue, Columbus, GA 31901
WTVM-TV 1909 Wynnton Rd Columbus, GA 31906
KBJR-TV 246 South Lake Ave., Duluth MN 55802
WDIO-TV 10 Observation Rd., Duluth, MN 55811 (see ad above!)
KBMT-TV 525 Interstate 10 South, Beaumont, TX 77701
KTVQ-TV 3203 3rd Avenue North, Billings, MT 59101
KULR-TV 2045 Overland Ave. Billings, MT 59102
WDTV 5 Television Drive. Bridgeport, WV 26330
WBKO-TV 2727 Russellville Rd., Bowling Green, KY 42101
KSAN/KSLT-TV 2800 Armstrong St., San Angelo, TX 76903
**: Spanish language station
Executive Producer, WXIX-TV, Cincinnati, OH:
WFFF/WVNY-TV, Burlington, VT…this Nexstar owned duopoly (FOX/ABC) is looking for a new news director. BOB ROCKSTROH is leaving. He’s been the ND here since 2018, when he transferred from Nexstar sister station WETM-TV in Elmira, NY. Bob’s a former ND in Providence, Hartford, and Ft. Wayne and has worked in New York, San Francisco, Minneapolis, and San Diego.
