Erik Schrader Pic.jpg
Erik Schrader is the new vice president and general manager at WOIO Channel 19 and WUAB Channel 43.
(WOIO)
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Erik Schrader has some tough decisions to make as he settles in as the new vice president and general manager at Raycom Media's two Cleveland stations, WOIO Channel 19 and WUAB Channel 43. Near the top of that list is picking the community he and his wife, Sarah, will call home.
"Everyone keeps asking if we're going to settle down on the East Side or the West Side, and we haven't figured that part out yet," said Schrader, who moved into his new general manager's office this month. "It's fun looking around. There are so many wonderful communities, we're going to take our time deciding where we're going to put down the stakes."
Moving is hardly a new experience for Schrader. Ohio is the seventh state on a TV trail that covers more than 20 years.
"It's tough in some ways and a lot of fun, but my wife and I are in absolute agreement that this is the last move for quite a while," he said. "This is a town we want to be part of. It's a place where we feel we can be very happy. We have a daughter about to turn 5 and about to start school. So we're going to lock things down for a good long while."
Schrader also is taking time to learn the Cleveland stations he now oversees. Do not expect any immediate or wholesale changes.
"My first goal is to take a couple of months and really get the rhythm of a place, to determine what is and isn't working," he said. "My goal is to keep an open mind and not make quick decisions based on perceptions, but really get a fix on the reality. Obviously, the goal is more viewers. But how exactly we do that will take a little time to figure out."
Much of his attention will be on local news. The last two years have seen the rebranding of 19 Action News to Cleveland 19 News, featuring a more traditional and less in-your-face approach.
"We're a content provider," Schrader said. "We do a ton of news across the two stations. So, yes, a lot of my focus will be on what we're doing and what we can be doing better. You want to feel you're making a difference and impacting things in a positive way."
Schrader, who grew up outside Philadelphia, is a graduate of Missouri Southern State University. He got his start as a part-time production assistant at KODE in Joplin, Missouri.
"I was there for 13 years, working my way up from part-timer to reporter to sports director to news director," Schrader said. "Then I followed my boss to Springfield, Missouri, then followed him again to Savannah, Georgia."
He served as the news director at KSPR in Springfield and at WJCL/WTGS in Savannah. He left Georgia to become the news director at WNEP in Scranton, Pennsylvania, leaving that station in 2011 to become the news director at WTNH in New Haven, Connecticut. In 2013, he was named the president and general manager of KSNW, the NBC affiliate in Wichita, Kansas.
Last year, he became the president and general manager at WIAT, the CBS affiliate in Birmingham, Alabama.
"Then the call came from Cleveland about a month ago," Schrader said. "And could I be starting in Cleveland at a better time, with the Indians in the World Series? The magic thing is that I didn't have to wait 40 years to see it. I got to see that unity and pride and excitement on the day I showed up."
Schrader replaces Dominic Mancuso, who left the Cleveland stations in August after a little more than two years as vice president and general manager. Mancuso had replaced longtime general manager Bill Applegate.
"It has been an interesting a few years for the station," Schrader said. "We've got good building blocks. It's not as if we're completely bereft of resources. There's a lot to build on.
"I've worked at stations that were dominant news leaders and some that weren't. You always want to open up a rating book and see that No. 1, but, in all honesty, it's a lot more fun in the challenge of figuring out how to get to the top."