Grimes Succeeds Sands As WPTZ GM

Paul Sands, president-general manager since 1998 of Hearst Television’s NBC affiliates WPTZ-WNNE Plattsburgh, N.Y.-Burlington, Vt. (DNMA 95), television market, will retire at the end of the year, capping a 38-year television career.  Kyle Grimes will succeed Sands as president-GM. , as announced today by Hearst Television President & CEO David J. Barrett and Executive Vice President, Jordan Wertlieb.

“Today’s announcement of a management transition at WPTZ/WNNE takes on special significance, with Kyle Grimes succeeding his one-time mentor Paul Sands at the helm of our stations,” said Hearst Television President-CEO David J. Barrett. “Paul has had an outstanding television career spanning 38 years and serving as the president of WPTZ-WNNE since 1998.  Prior to his service with Hearst Television, Paul’s distinguished career includes positions as a news executive with several of our industry’s most prominent companies and stations. We are proud of his steady leadership contributions at WPTZ/WNNE over the past 14 years, and we join his staff, friends, and colleagues in wishing him good health and happiness in the years to come.

Grimes’s appointment as president-GM represents a homecoming; he was the stations’ news director from 2005 to 2008. More recently he was news director at WPBF, the Hearst ABC affiliate in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Before his first tour at WPTZ/WNNE, Grimes was a newscast producer at Hearst’s KCRA-KQCA Sacramento, Calif. He began his career at Hearst’s KSBW Monterey-Salinas, Calif.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from Syracuse University.