news directors

Hearst Television promotes her from assistant ND to head news at its New Orleans NBC affiliate. 

After only a year and a half, CBS O&O WBZ Boston has ousted news director Gary LaPlante from his role at the station.

In the wake of the February sweep, she told her staff Tuesday that she was leaving the Tegna NBC affiliate in Phoenix.

He’s returning to Florida after three years at the Fox Chicago O&O, citing personal family reasons, but will stay on through April.

Assistant news director Cheryl Carson, who has been interim news director at the Tegna NBC affili since Mark Ginther moved to Dallas NBC O&O KXAS in August, has been given the job permanently.

Nexstar promotes him from interim N.D. as its ABC affiliate in Syracuse, N.Y.

The assistant ND at KGW Portland, Ore., becomes executive news director at Tegna’s CBS affil in Houston. She will be joined this summer by her husband, Russ Lewis, who joins KHOU’s anchor team.

Make it four for four. When WCPO Cincinnati News Director Alex Bongiorno announced Tuesday she would be leaving the Scripps-owned ABC affiliate in early March, she’ll be the fourth of the market’s four TV newsroom bosses to step down in eight months.

Karen Koutsky is out at Charlotte, N.C., Fox-owned WJZY where she held the top news spot for a year.

Hearst promotes the assistant ND at its KMBC Kansas City, Mo., to lead the news operations at its Cincinnati NBC affiliate.

She joins the Scripps-owned ABC affiliate in Bakersfield, Calif., from KFSN Fresno, Calif., where she was the assistant news director.

Dan Wilson, current ND of Scripps’ WPTV West Palm, Fla., has been tapped by Meredith’s Phoenix duopoly of KPHO (CBS)-KTVK (ind.) to head news operations.

Raycom promotes the assistant news director at the Alabama Fox affiliate to succeed James Finch following his move to a corporate post.

Heartland Media promotes one of its reporters to oversee news efforts at its NBC affiliate in North Mississippi.

Lorra Lynch Jones has been absent lately from anchoring the 5 o’clock news on Tegna’s Macon, Ga., CBS affiliate, and viewers started to notice. So, in a video posted on the station’s website, Jones explained why: she’s now news director.

After nearly five years as executive news director, Phil Bruce will be leaving Tegna’s Houston CBS affiliate at the end of January.

News Director Don Shafer has left San Diego CW affiliate XETV. Shafer joined XETV in 2013 from Peoria, Ill., where he was news and multimedia content manager for NBC affiliate WEEK.

Chip Mahaney, the station group’s former regional general manager for the digital division, will hire news directors, assistant news directors and executive producers across the company’s news-producing stations.

He takes over for Jim DePury, who is retiring from the Nexstar NBC affiliate in Scranton, Pa., at the end of this month.

KPHO News Director Leona Wood told her staff that she is leaving the Meredith-owned CBS affiliate in Phoenix at the end of the month.

At the Norfolk, Va., CBS-CW duopoly owned by Dreamcatcher Broadcasting and operated by Tribune, Skip Valet becomes VP-GM, while Ryan Minnaugh is named news director.

The Scripps-owned Buffalo, N.Y., ABC affiliate hires Robert Heverling, an assistant news director at WOIO Cleveland, to oversee its news operations.

He succeeds the retiring Chuck Bark as head of news operations at the Baton Rouge, La., ABC affiliate.

Natalie Hughes, interim ND since September at the Tribune NBC affiliate in Oklahoma City, gets the permanent promotion.

The Cox Atlanta ABC affiliate elevates its 16-year veteran and managing editor to the top news slot.

Tribune confirmed that it has parted ways with Tina Luque, news director at its Norfolk, Va., CBS affiliate WTKR as the newsroom was set to celebrate her birthday.

On Monday, Oct. 19, Greg Shepperd takes the news reins at Hearst Television’s ABC affiliate KOAT Albuquerque, N.M., following a successful three-year run at Hearst’s   KHBS-KHOG Fayetteville-Fort Smith, Ark.

ZGS Communications taps the station’s former interim news director to permanently lead the department at its Telemundo affiliate in Tampa, Fla.

The news veteran and former KNXV news chief will join Raycom’s Tucson CBS affiliate on Oct. 5.

The news veteran is returning to the CBS Philadelphia O&O to lead the news efforts there and at co-owned WPSG.

She has been the Las Vegas CBS affiliate’s managing editor/assistant news director for the past eight years.

Allison McGinley, who has worked at the Graham Media CBS affiliate in Orlando, Fla., for 21 years, has been named news director. She had been acting news director since Steve Hyvonen resigned July 21.

The former executive news director of KING Seattle is tapped by NBC to succeed Susan Tully as news chief.

The assistant news director at KENS San Antonio, Texas, for the past year is taking over the top news job at the CBS affiliate in Tyler, Texas, on Sept. 8.

The long-time TV newsman and Fox Sports 1 executive will succeed Scott Diener at CBS’s Los Angeles duopoly beginning next month.

She moves from KOLD Tucson to oversee news operations at the ABC Owned station in Raleigh-Durham, N.C.

The former managing editor of KPIX San Francisco will lead news operations at the Scripps ABC affiliate in Las Vegas.

The Spanish-language news executive takes charge of information and local productions across various platforms at Telemundo’s Dallas station.