Posted by Bud on December 14, 2009 at 19:37:13:
Jerry Kersting named Tribune Broadcasting COO
Jerry Kersting, an executive vice president at Tribune Co. since April 2008, has been appointed Tribune Broadcasting's chief operating officer.
The company said the promotion, effective immediately, will enable Tribune Broadcasting President Ed Wilson "to focus even more time and attention on his responsibilities to drive revenue and generate sales across the company" in his additional role as Tribune Co.'s chief revenue officer, a post Wilson added late last year.
Kersting, 60, a former chief financial officer for the radio division of Clear Channel Communications, will work with Wilson overseeing the day-to-day operations of Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co.'s 23 broadcast TV stations, cable channel WGN America and WGN-AM 720.
“The past year has allowed me the opportunity to work together with Jerry on the restructuring of our stations,” Wilson, 52, said in a statement. “This new role will allow us to build our stations into local market leaders through expanded news content, more vibrant internet sites, and by growing revenue as we continue developing unique solutions for our advertisers."
This is just the latest in a series of recent executive realignments atop Tribune Co., including the promotion of Randy Michaels, a former head of Clear Channel's radio division, from chief operating officer to chief executive officer and Gerry Spector from chief administrative officer to chief operating officer.
“Ed has given me a great platform from which to move forward,” Kersting said in the announcement. “We’ll continue to aggressively expand our news offerings and look for ways to build more local programming. At WGN America, we’ve obtained some top-notch programs which begin debuting next fall, so we’re confident we will build audience share. I’m very optimistic about where we’re going.”
Tribune Co. has operated under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the past year and a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in Delaware earlier this month extended until Feb. 28 Tribune Co.’s exclusive right to file a reorganization plan.
While the precise ownership structure of the post-Chapter 11 company is still being negotiated, a plan to swap Tribune's $13 billion debt burden for equity will give some combination of creditors ownership of the media conglomerate. The creditors then will pick their own board of directors and it will determine who it wants managing the company.