Gannett Names New Broadcasting Team

David Lougee, president of Gannett Broadcasting, welcomed the newly acquired Belo stations to his company’s fold and announced a new executive team. The company closed on the $2.2 billion deal on Dec. 23.

“Having had the unique privilege of working for both Gannett and Belo,” he said, “I can tell you first-hand that we are a perfect cultural and strategic fit. We have shared values and rich histories of providing first-class, award-winning journalism that makes a difference every day in the 100-plus communities we serve.

“We will continue building on both companies’ extraordinary legacies…but we will be laser focused on the future … with the necessary innovation and boldness required to achieve Gannett’s stated goal of reinventing local journalism in the digital age.”

The acquisition makes Gannett the No. 1 CBS affiliate group; its position as the top NBC affiliate group is further expanded; it is now the fourth largest ABC affiliate group.

The strategic team of executives leading this merged team includes the following:

• Executive Vice President, Lynn Beall — She will continue in her role as president and general manager of KSDK St. Louis.

• Executive Vice President, Peter Diaz — He will also have several stations reporting to him.

• Vice President of Sales, Angela Betasso — She will be centrally located in Dallas where she will also have the newly combined Gannett traffic operations group reporting to her.

• Vice President of Sales Strategy, Dan Lyons — He will oversee Gannet’s new integrated digital efforts including the broadcasting portion of the newly launched G/O Digital efforts.

• Senior Vice President of News and Content,  Rob Mennie — He will continue to be integral to content initiatives inside Gannett’s broadcasting division and across all of Gannett.

• Vice President of News, Michael Valentine — He held this same position at Belo after a successful stint at Belo’s WFAA.

Other members of the team include: Julie Heskett, SVP of finance and technology;  Jake Martinez, VP of financial planning;  Jeff Johnson, VP of technology; Brooke Spectorsky, SVP of syndicated programming;  Paul Trelstad, SVP of revenue reporting and analysis; Mark Cornetta, SVP; Joe Hurd , VP of business development and strategy;  Meredith Conte , VP of marketing; Asa Darrow, VP of design strategy; and Tom Somers, VP of audience intelligence and development.