Steven Soldinger Named WWSB Tampa GM

Calkins Media on Thursday named Steven Soldinger vice president and general manager of its ABC affiliate WWSB Tampa-St. Petersburg-Sarasota, Fla. (DMA 14). His appointment is effective immediately.

Soldinger, who has managed several television stations and owned and operated a radio station, comes to WWSB from Norfolk, Va., where he was VP-GM of WGNT.

He’s also held similar posts at WUPA Atlanta and WTOG Tampa, Fla., all CBS Television stations. In making the announcement, Sandra Hardy, one of the owners of Calkins Media, WWSB’s parent company, said: “Steven is a talented broadcaster and visionary with an outstanding track record of building strong television stations.  He has a passion for news and community service, which makes him an ideal fit for our company and ABC 7.”

Prior to CBS, Soldinger pioneered the concept of “hubbing,” which involves operating multiple television stations from one location.  It is a practice now used by broadcasters across the country. Soldinger also was group general manager for Sinclair Television’s WBFF (Fox)-WNUV (WB) Baltimore, as well as the company’s ABC and UPN stations in Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem, N.C.

Over the course of his career, Soldinger created a national rep firm (that bought advertising on local stations), developed a company that produced centralized news for stations across the nation and created technology to generate additional revenue streams for television stations. He has worked on both the news and sales sides of the business.

Soldinger was graduated from the University of Richmond with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration.  While in college, he worked as a news reporter and photographer for WWBT Richmond, Va. He began his broadcasting career while he was in high school, working as a DJ and news reporter for WNOR-FM Norfolk, Va.