August 16, 2020
Tuesday, August 18, 2020 UPDATE:
Greetings:
A flurry of news director moves to share, including one in the number two market.
Chen
At KABC-TV (ABC, obviously) in Los Angeles, PAM CHEN has been promoted to News Director. She first joined KABC in 2004, and has served as Assistant News Director since 2004. Pam’s career path is detailed in the station’s news release. She’s also worked for another LA station and in San Diego.
She replaces ROB ELMORE who left this summer to return to ABC’s WTVD-TV in Raleigh-Durham as GM. Rob spent five years as ND at KABC, following 17 years as ND at WTVD.
Briefly:
SHARRANDA NEAL has been promoted to ND for Tegna’s WLTX-TV (CBS) in Columbia, SC. replacing JULIE EISENMANN. We told you this weekend that Julie had vacated the ND job: what we did not know then…and can share now…is that Julie’s been named Director of Content for the station, and will also have some oversight of other Tegna properties.
DAVID JONES is the next ND for Standard Media’s WLNE-TV (ABC) in Providence. He most recently was ND at WNYT-TV, Hubbard’s NBC affiliate in Albany, NY. He replaces KELLY JOHNSTON.
And Standard Media named JENNIFER HARDY ND for KLKN-TV in Lincoln, NE. She left WWSB-TV (Gray/ABC) in Sarasota, FL in June. Jennifer replaces MIKE SNUFFER who left for family reasons last month after six months as ND.
And GREG DeBROSSE joins KPLC-TV (Gray/NBC) in Lake Charles, LA, coming from the Assistant ND job at KOKI-TV (Cox Media Group/FOX) in Tulsa. He replaces JENELLE SHREINER who was promoted to ND for KOLD-TV in Tucson.
We’ll have more on all these hires this weekend.
regards,
Rick Gevers
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Greetings:
This week we have FIVE new news director openings. (Last week we had FIVE newly named NDs.) But there’s just ONE newly named ND this week.
Our list of open ND jobs jumps to 32.
Man bites dog? A TV station is suing for racial discrimination instead of being the defendant in such an action. We have TWO management appointments at Nexstar stations, and a new job for a former Tribune executive who started his career as a meteorologist.
We have several new GMs, including ONE in a top 25 market.
And sadly there’s an obituary for a longtime journalism educator with a most interesting background.
Apologies for the late hour for this week’s update. After reading this week’s report, I hope you’ll agree better late than never!
Newly Named News Directors:
Huff
WANE-TV, Ft. Wayne, IN…JENNA HUFF moves north (and closer to her native Michigan as she’s been named ND for this Nexstar owned CBS affiliate. Here’s the note from GM TOM ANTISDEL. For the last nine years, Jenna has been the ND for WFXL-TV in Albany, GA, and five years ago added ND oversight for sister Sinclair operation WGXA-TV in Macon, GA. Jenna’s also worked in Knoxville. She’ll replace 16 year veteran ND TED LINN. We told you in June that he would retire in September.
New News Director Openings:
Williams
WCAU-TV, Philadelphia, PA…NBC was busy this week, promoting TWO o-and-o NDs to new jobs. Here, ANZIO WILLIAMS has been named VP for Diversity for NBC News Senior Vice-Presdient for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the NBC owned stations gr0up. This news release explains his role in this new job. He’s been ND here for more than eight years. He previously spent five years as ND for Hearst’s KCRA-TV (NBC) in Sacramento and two years as ND for another Hearst station, WDSU-TV (also NBC) in New Orleans. He’s also worked in Orlando, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Miami, and Greensboro, NC.
Figueroa
WTVJ-TV, Miami, FL…in the second of TWO promotions for an NBC o-and-o news director, MIGDALIA FIGUEROA is moving to Orlando where she’ll be GM for sister NBC/Telemundo station WTMO-TV. More in this news release. She’s been ND at WTVJ for eight years and has also worked in New York and for the Univision station in Miami.
LaPorte
KIRO-TV, Seattle, WA…JOHN LaPORTE is leaving this Cox Media Group owned CBS affiliate next month to return to Milwaukee, where he worked before becoming ND at KIRO a little more than a year ago. In Milwaukee, John previously served as ND for FOX affiliate WITI-TV. Now, he’ll be the Assistant ND for Weigel’s WDJT-TV (CBS). John’s been an ND in several other markets and worked in a few others: His Linkedin page has more.
Johnston
WLNE-TV, Providence, RI…this Standard Media owned ABC affiliate is looking for a new news director. KELLY JOHNSTON had been the ND for the last four years in her second tour of duty with the station. She began in 1999 in production, moved to news in 2005, eventually become Senior Producer. She left in 2013 to spend time with her family before coming back in 2016 to be ND.
Eisenmann
WLTX-TV, Columbia, SC…this Tegna owned CBS affiliate is advertising for a new news director. My records show that JULIE EISENMANN has been the ND here for the past three years. Before that, she was Assistant ND for sister-Tegna station WXIA-TV in Atlanta. Julie’s been an ND in Savannah and Erie, PA, where she also had reported and anchored, and earlier worked on the assignment desk in Pittsburgh.
Paid Help Wanted Ads:
There are no ads this week.
Please email me if you’d like information on advertising your news management opening on the most targeted site on line: rick@rickgevers.com
Other News Management Openings:
ASSISTANT NEWS DIRECTOR:
WNCN-TV, Raleigh, NC (relisted 8/2/20)
KUSI-TV, San Diego, CA (relisted 7/19/20)
WKEF/WRGT-TV, Dayton, OH (new listing this week)
WGBA-TV, Green Bay, WI (relisted 6/21/20)
WOWK-TV, Charleston, WV (listed 8/9/20)
WIS-TV, Columbia, SC (listed 8/2/20)
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER:
WDVM-TV, Hagerstown MD (listed 7/12/20)
KNXV-TV, Phoenix, AZ (listed 8/9/20)
WFLA-TV, Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL (listed 7/19/20)
KING/KONG-TV, Seattle, WA (relisted 7/19/20)
WNCN-TV, Raleigh, NC (PM EP, relisted 7/5/20)
KSTU-TV, Salt Lake City, UT (Digital EP, listed 8/9/20)
KVVU-TV, Las Vegas, NV (relisted 6/14/20)
WIVB-TV, Buffalo, NY (Digital EP, relisted 8/9/20)
WIS-TV, Columbia, SC (listed 8/2/20)
WBTW-TV, Florence/Myrtle Beach, SC (Digital EP, new listing this week)
KNWA-TV, Fayetteville, AR (PM EP, relisted this week)
KERO-TV, Bakersfield, CA (listed 8/9/20)
KRIS-TV, Corpus Christi, TX (listed 6/21/20)
KDRV-TV, Medford, OR (listed 8/2/20)
MANAGING EDITOR:
WFTX-TV, Ft, Myers, FL (listed 7/12/20)
WSLS-TV, Roanoke, VA (new listing this week)
More News Management Openings:
Relisted This Week:
KARK/KLRT-TV, Little Rock, AR (Digital Director)
Listed 8/9/16:
WCPO-TV, Cincinnati, OH (Senior Manager of Broadcast Content)
Listed 7/26/20:
WATE-TV, Knoxville, TN (Digital Media Manager)
WFRV-TV, Green Bay, WI (Digital Content Director)
Listed 7/19/20:
WLNS-TV, Lansing, MI (Digital Content Manager)
Listed 7/12/20:
KOMU-TV, Columbia, MO (Digital Content Manager)
Listed 6/28/20:
KOKI-TV, Tulsa, OK (AM Content Manager)
KTVX-TV, Salt Lake City, UT (Managing Editor/Digital News)
Obituary:
Ralph L.
Longtime journalism educator RALPH LOWENSTEIN died Monday. He was 90 and suffered a massive stroke. He served as dean of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications from 1976 to 1994, and in 1971 forecast a day when people could retrieve large amounts of information online from central computers. The Miami Herald published a lengthy obituary well worth your time. He also taught at Missouri, and fought as a volunteer in Israel’s 1948 war for independence. Our sympathy to his wife and two children.
Names in the News (and other items):
Many stations have been sued for racial discrimination, but in a ‘man bites dog’ turnaround, WISH-TV is suing AT&T. Here’s the story from the WISH website.
KOIN-TV in Portland, OR (CBS/Nexstar) has filled its open Assistant ND job by promoting ALLISON ANSLINGER. I believe she was an EP there, and has previously worked in Boston and Las Vegas.
RICK BOONE joins Nexstar’s KARD-TV in W. Monroe, LA, as Executive Producer. When last mentioned in these pages (July, 2019) he had left a short-lived ND job in Kentucky to return to California to run for the Palo Alto City Council.
Baron
Congratulations to digital whiz STEVE BARON who joins the Local Media Association as Chief Strategy Officer, Steve most recently served as a VP for Tribune. He also worked for Local TV, LLC, as VP of Interactive Content and also worked for WFLD-TV (FOX) in Chicago helping establish a website presence. He began his career on-air, working as a meteorologist in several markets. Full disclosure: I represented Steve during his on-air days.
General Manager News and Notes:
Cuffee
Sinclair Broadcasting has promoted CORTLANDT CUFFEE to be VP and GM for KATU-TV (ABC) in Portland, OR. He’s been running the sales department for KATU and its Univision counterpart. Earlier in his career Cortlandt worked for another Portland station.
There are TWO new General Managers at Nexstar stations.
ANDREW WYATT moves from Nexstar’s WDVM-TV in Hagerstown, MD, to become GM for Nexstar’s first station, WBRE-TV (NBC) in Wilkes-Barre, PA, which the company acquired in 1996. He’s also oversee Mission Broadcasting’s WYOU-TV (CBS) which Nexstar operates under a joint operating agreement.
He’ll be replaced at WDVM by DAVID BANGURA who’s the GM for Nexstar’s Detroit station, WADL-TV.
Our Full List of Open ND Jobs:
Here’s our list of open ND jobs as of Sunday, August 16, 2020:
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
KABC-TV 500 Circle Seven Dr. Glendale, CA 91201
WFMZ-TV 300 E Rock Rd, Allentown, PA 18103
WCAU-TV 1800 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103
KHOU-TV 5718 Westheimer Rd Houston, TX 77057
WBZ-TV 1170 Soldiers Field Road, Boston, MA 02134
WUVG-TV 3350 Peachtree Road #1250, Atlanta, GA 30326 **
KIRO-TV 2807 Third Ave. Seattle, WA 98121
WTVJ-TV 15000 SW 27th Street Miramar, FL 33027
WTMO-TV 1650 Sand Lake Rd. # 340 Orlando, FL 32809 **
WBFF-TV 2000 W 41st St, Baltimore, MD 21211
WTVD-TV 411 Liberty St Durham, NC 27701
WPMT-TV 2005 South Queen Street York, PA 17403
WDSU-TV 846 Howard Ave New Orleans, LA 70113
WLNE-TV 10 Orms Street Providence, RI 02904
WNYT-TV 715 North Pearl Street, Albany, NY 12204
WRGB-TV 1400 Balltown Road, Schenectady, NY 12309
WALA-TV 1501 Satchel Paige Dr. Mobile, AL 36606
WLTX-TV 6027 Garners Ferry Rd, Columbia, SC
KLKN-TV 3240 S 10th St, Lincoln, NE 68502
WCTV 1801 Halstead Blvd. Tallahassee, FL 32309
KYTX-TV 2211 E SE Loop 323, Tyler, TX 75701
KVAL/KMTR-TV 4575 Blanton Rd., Eugene, OR 97405
WLTZ-TV 6140 Buena Vista Rd. Columbus, GA 31907
KOMU-TV 5550 Old 63 S, Columbia, MO 65201
KTVA-TV 2550 Denali St. # 1604 Anchorage, AK 99503
KPLC-TV 20 Division Street, Lake Charles, LA 70601
WETM-TV 101 East Water St. Elmira, NY 14901
WCAV-TV 999 2nd Street, S.E. Charlottesville Virginia 22902
WLFI-TV 2605 Yeager Rd. West Lafayette, IN 47906
Delta News 837 Washington Av. Greenville, MS 38701
KIDY/KXVA-TV 5 S. Chadbourne Street San Angelo, TX 76903
KGWN-TV 2923 E. Lincolnway, Cheyenne, WY 82001
**: Spanish language station