For TV Station Groups, National Collaborations Increase And Improve
Station groups including Gray, E.W. Scripps and Nexstar are increasingly drawing on their stations to contribute stories for their national reporting projects. The ensuing collaborations are having a transformative effect on news production. Pictured: Susan Campbell reporting a story for one of Gray Television’s “consumer franchises” — Did You Know? — from KOLD Tucson.
The veteran station group journalist and executive is tapped to succeed Bob Smith. Executive Chairman Hilton Howell said: “She is the natural choice to lead Gray’s unique portfolio of leading television stations.”
Sandy Breland, Ronna Corrente, Colin Gaston, Matt Jaquint and Mike King are now senior managing vice presidents.
WLBT And Gray Television Do The Right Thing
Back in the 1960s, WLBT in Jackson, Miss., had its license revoked after it actively promoted segregation, encouraged viewers to defy the government, break the law and mistreat their fellow human beings. Today, WLBT is an example of how to do race relations right, reflecting the needs, interests and employee makeup of a largely African American community. Its current owner, Gray Television, has just created the Gray Media Training Center to develop fully trained, highly qualified minority graduates for Gray’s stations in 113 markets.
Reporter Safety A Story That Won’t Go Away
Since attacks on journalists dramatically escalated last year, station groups have tightened safety protocols and veteran reporters are going into potentially volatile environments with escape routes at the ready. Even after 2020’s violent crescendo, journalists must be constantly vigilant against threats that “can happen spontaneously,” says Ruschell Boone, a reporter with NY1.
It doesn’t take an Einstein to know that in this age of streaming and on-demand viewing, linear TV notions of time and space don’t apply. But it did take a Breland — Sandy Breland, group vice president at Raycom Media — to apply that new reality to investigative reporting.
Exclusives
The former WVUE New Orleans VP-GM will succeed retiring Leon Long as corporate group vice president. She, in turn, will be succeeded by Tim Ingram, VP-GM of the company’s Cape Girardeau, Mo., duopoly.
Sandy Breland Named WVUE VP-GM
Raycom, which takes over operations of the New Orleans Fox affiliate Monday, has chosen the GM of its WAFB Baton Rouge, La., to lead the transition.
