Hearst moves Justin Antoniotti from its WYFF Greenville, S.C., to replace Alex Bongiorno at its Pittsburgh ABC affiliate.
DMA 23 (PITTSBURGH)
Antoniotti Named WTAE News Director
Hearst Television’s ABC affiliate WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh (DMA 23) today appointed Justin Antoniotti its news director. He succeeds Alex Bongiorno, who announced Monday that she was leaving after more than three years at the station.
Antoniotti, who begins his new job immediately, will oversee the overall news operation of Channel 4 Action News, WTAE.com and WTAE mobile applications.
Antoniotti comes to WTAE from Hearst Television sister-station WYFF Greenville, S.C. During his tenure as news director, WYFF expanded local newscasts and launched a primetime news magazine, Chronicle, which earned a Peabody Award from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism in 2010.
Prior to WYFF, Antoniotti was assistant news director at Hearst Television’s WISN Milwaukee from 2005 to 2007.
In addition to his news management roles in Greenville and Milwaukee, Antoniotti has also worked as a news manager in Houston and Memphis. He began his career as a news producer in Columbia, Mo., and, later, Biloxi, Miss.
Antoniotti graduated with honors in 1996 from the University of Missouri School of Journalism.
BRAND CONNECTIONS
A native of Detroit, Antoniotti is a second-generation news director. His father, Steve, had a long career as news director and later general manager in Los Angeles, Detroit, St. Louis and Oklahoma City.
Comments (1)
Ariel Gonzalez says:
October 11, 2012 at 4:17 pm
Thankfully, this may mean the end of the countless dog and cat stories that have become the hallmark of WTAE over the past few years. The station’s new management appears to be on the path to returning WTAE to its glory years. Hopefully, WTAE will begin producing some local content, such as a Sunday morning public affairs show. The market sorely needs additional in-depth coverage of political and business issues. A can see a Sunday morning block with “This Week”, “Chris Matthews”, and a companion local broadcast. WTAE has great on-air talent; it’s time to put them to work on something compelling.