Scripps Adds Duties To 3 General Managers

The E. W. Scripps TV stations group is giving three of its general managers the additional responsibility of overseeing other stations and secondary network affiliates, according to an email from group head Brian Lawlor to employees that was released to the press this morning.

“The promotion of these three great broadcasters will allow Scripps to have more focus on strategic opportunities while growing the Scripps news brands in our 13 markets,” Lawlor wrote.

Ed Fernandez, GM of WXYZ Detroit, will oversee KSHB-KMCI Kansas City and Azteca TV affiliates.

Sam Rosenwasser, GM of WEWS Cleveland, will oversee KJRH Tulsa, Okla., and WMAR Baltimore, as well as the LiveWell affiliates.

Steve Wasserman, GM of WPTV West Palm Beach, Fla., will oversee KNXV Phoenix, WCPO Cincinnati and WFTS Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla.

To help the three continue to manage their home stations, the email says, station managers will be appointed at them.

The reorganization does not yet affect the Big Four network affiliates that Scripps purchased from McGraw-Hill earlier this year. The email says that Lawlor will “continue to work directly” with the GMs of those stations — KHGH Denver, WRTV Indianapolis, KGTV San Diego and KERO Bakersfield, Calif.

“This is an exciting time at Scripps as we begin to play a larger role in the industry,” the email says. “As the owner of three NBC affiliates, the largest ABC affiliate group in the country and five Spanish-language TV stations, we have an immediate opportunity to make a difference in communities that stretch coast to coast and across many cultures.”

Fernandez was named GM of WXYZ in early 2010. Prior to joining WXYZ, he was GM of Telemundo’s WSNS Chicago. He has also been GM of WXMI Grand Rapids, Mich., after moving up the ladder. Fernandez began his career as an account executive with WZZM and WOOD in Grand Rapids, Mich., and served in the same capacity at WSB Atlanta before joining WXMI is 1989.

Wasserman has been GM of WPTV since 2008. Prior to then, he spent more than two years as GM of Post-Newsweek Stations’ WDIV Detroit. Previously, he was GM of KPRC Houston for more than 11 years and GM of WJXT Jacksonville, Fla., for six years.

Rosenwasser was named GM of WEWS in April 2010 after nine years at the helm of WTSP Tampa-St. Petersburg. From 1999 to 2001, he was GM of Gannett’s KXTV Sacramento, Calif., and earlier he was GM of Gannett’s KVUE Austin, Texas.

Other stops in his career, which stretches back to 1973, include KXAN Austin, WFAA Dallas and KDFW Dallas.