Posted by chicagomedia.org on July 31, 2008 at 19:05:43:
Tribune shuffles management of TV stations
Tribune Broadcasting Thursday announced a reorganization involving promotion of several key executives, including appointment of a senior vice president to oversee news at Tribune Co.'s television stations and those of its partner, Local TV LLC.
Steve Charlier, who has had a series of jobs with Local TV stations in Phoenix, Seattle and Salt Lake City, is the new TV news czar for Tribune Co., which also owns the Chicago Tribune. Earlier, as vice president and news durector at KOVR-TV and KMAX-TV in Sacramento, he developed an early morning interactive newscast based heavily on Internet content.
The company also elevated Ray Schonbak--who joined Tribune Co. in March to oversee the transition set for Friday, of San Diego station KSWB-TV from a CW affiliate to a Fox outlet--to executive vice president, giving him responsibility for the company's Fox affiliates in Seattle, Sacramento, Indianapolis, Grand Rapids, Mich., and Harrisburg, Pa., as well as its Portland CW affiliate.
Betty Ellen Berlamino, who has been vice president and general manager of WPIX-TV in New York since 2000, was upped to station president. And Richard Graziano, who has been vice president and general manager of Tribune's two TV stations in Hartford, Conn., was promoted to senior vice president and given added responsibility for Tribune Co. stations in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Berlamino and Graziano will work to maximize collaboration between the stations they oversee, all within a few hundreds miles of each other.
"These moves allow us to improve the speed of decision-making and overall cooperation and communication across our television group," Tribune Broadcasting President Ed Wilson said in a statement. "These people know their local markets better than anyone."
Berlamino, Schonbak and Graziano will report to Wilson, as will the general managers of Chicago's WGN, Los Angeles' KTLA-TV and Miami's WSFL-TV. Tribune Co.'s stations in Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, Denver and St. Louis will continue reporting to Tribune Broadcasting Executive Vice President John Vitanovec, who has doubled as KTLA's interim general manager since February.
"By bringing our Fox affiliates together as a group, we can capitalize on the strength and resources of the country's No. 1 television network," Schonbak said in the announcement. "Fox stations are known for strong local news and sports coverage. This arrangement allows us to better coordinate the sharing of news and sports content, graphics and innovative programming in order to ensure future growth and success."
Wilson called Charlier "one of the most creative and innovative people in local TV news today," noting that, "between Tribune and Local TV, we're aggressively expanding local news programming in 15 markets."
Tribune Co. has 23 television stations, including Chicago's WGN-Ch. 9, which plans in September to add a 5:30 p.m. newscast and expand its midday newscast to 90 minutes from an hour. Local TV LLC, which entered into a partnership with Tribune Co. in December, has another 17 stations.
"I'm really not interested in doing traditional TV news," Charlier said in a statement. "Audiences are demanding more from local broadcasters--more breaking news, more context to help them understand what they're seeing on the screen and more creativity in the way the news is presented. We have to be willing to take some risks and do things differently."
(Rosenthal)