Gray Names New GMs In Louisville, New Orleans

Gray Television today said that Ronna Corrente, the general manager of Gray’s Fox affiliate WVUE New Orleans, will become the GM of Gray’s WAVE Louisville, Ky.

She will be succeeded by WVUE’s current news director, Mikel Schaefer, who in turn will be succeeded by the station’s current assistant news director, Kristen Palestina.

All three promotions are effective Sept. 7.

Ronna Corrente started her career in television at the Fox affiliate WDKY Lexington, Ky., in 1995. Over the next several years, she rose through the ranks to general sales manager and later general manager. In February 2018, she moved to Baton Rouge to become GM of Gray’s WAFB Baton Rouge, La. Under Corrente’s leadership, WAFB earned numerous Emmy and Associated Press Awards for news content as well as its first national Edward R. Murrow Award. In 2019, the Louisiana Association of Broadcasters named WAFB its Station of the Year.

Since February 2020, Corrente has been GM WVUE. During her tenure, the station won a 2021 National Headliner Award, a national Edward R. Murrow award just two days ago in the Investigative Reporting category, as well as a regional Murrow award for best newscast (Fox 8 News at 10pm), and a regional Murrow award for breaking news covering Hurricane Zeta.

Mikel Schaefer started his career in broadcast journalism while still in college in 1984 at CBS affiliate WWL New Orleans. He held numerous positions there before moving to WVUE in November 2008 to become the station’s news director. Under Schaefer’s leadership, WVUE doubled the local news production and won a George Foster Peabody award, two consecutive Alfred I. duPont awards for investigative journalism and 16 national Edward R. Murrow awards. Schaefer also published Lost in Katrina following the storm.