July 3, 2009

Greetings:

Best wishes for a safe holiday weekend.

There’s just  ONE new news director to report to you today, with just  ONE new opening, and both moves were created with one ND change within a company.

That means our list of open ND positions remain at a very low  15.

We also have a paid ad this week for a newsroom manager position at Brigham Young University.  Please note the deadline for applying for this position is next Thursday, July 9th.

Please join me in congratulating all this year’s Edward R. Murrow award winners.  The complete list is here.

And we have three obituaries this week, involving either children or parents of current and former news directors.

That and more after this week’s changes:

NEW NEWS DIRECTOR OPENING:

WOOD-TV, Grand Rapids, MI…PATTI McGETTIGAN is being promoted within owner LIN Television to be the ND for the company’s Indianapolis station, WISH-TV.  More on that below.  Patti has been the ND here 2001, and has worked for this NBC affiliate (her second time there) since 1995.  She’s also worked in Lansing and Pittsburgh.

NEW NEWS DIRECTOR NAMED:

WISH-TV, Indianapolis, IN…as noted above, PATTI McGETTIGAN will be the next ND for this LIN-owned CBS station.  Patti has been the ND for WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids, MI, since 2001.  She re-joined the station in 1995 as EP, and was promoted to Assistant ND in 1998.  At WISH-TV, she replaces KEVIN FINCH who left the station last month to join an Indianapolis-based documentary producer after more than two years as ND.

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PAID ADVERTISEMENT:

MANAGER, BROADCAST NEWS, BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY:

The position of Manager, Broadcast News, was created to provide training, management, coordination, and support to students working within the Broadcast  News Lab of BYU’s Department of Communications.

The broadcast lab’s news products are far-reaching, highly visible, and have the potential to significantly affect individuals and the reputation of the Church and the University. Consequently, the person occupying this position must have both the technical skill and the sense of purpose and vision to teach students to become excellent broadcast news practitioners, and to demand a high level of responsibility and accountability from them.  Specific qualifications include:

· Bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism or related field with a minimum of five years’ experience in news gathering and distribution, with a demonstrated track record in news management positions such as news director, executive producer, or producer.

· Ability to communicate clearly and collaborate with editorial personnel, broadcast journalism faculty, department administration and other stakeholders.  Good teamwork skills are a must.

· Solid personnel management experience and skill, including the ability to coordinate the efforts of full/part time broadcast lab staff and students who are employees, volunteers, or who are enrolled in broadcast journalism classes.

· Expertise in news production, camera work, graphics, videotape editing, online publishing, and social media tools.

· Understanding of online content management systems and news convergence.  One of the broadcast lab’s top priorities is the establishment of a converged, online news delivery system for the broadcast newsroom and student-run newspaper, The Daily Universe.   The news director should understand both the vision and the processes behind this convergence effort and have a basic knowledge of the tools involved.

· Understanding of the trends and changes facing the broadcast industry, coupled with an understanding of the department’s and University’s unique  vision for its broadcast students, programs and products.

· Preference will be given to candidates with prior university-level teaching experience and/or related graduate study.

Specific Job Responsibilities:

This position will report to the associate chair, student media, BYU Department of Communications.  Under the direction of department leadership and in close collaboration with the Broadcast faculty, the incumbent will:

· Provide all essential editorial, creative support and direct supervision of the Daily News, Spanish broadcast and radio broadcast operations.  This includes coordinating with BYU Broadcasting on the daily broadcast of the program and supplying radio news content.

· Serve as direct hiring manager and functional supervisor to the student news staff and crew who produce and present the lab broadcast.

· Under the direction of the broadcast faculty, develop and implement curriculum that involves the broadcast lab.

· Teach and mentor students in news writing, news producing, news reporting and on-air presentation as assigned.

· Advise lab broadcast students on sound journalism techniques.

· Contribute to the development of new media initiatives and collaborate with other department teams and faculty members in this effort.

· As needed, participate in Daily Universe/broadcast newsroom coordination meetings.

· As appropriate and under the direction of the department, serve as a liaison between the student broadcast lab and other University departments and external organizations, specifically including BYU Broadcasting.

· Report all critical issues to the associate chair, student media.

Application Instructions:

Those interested in viewing or applying for this position, can access the posting at: http://yjobs.byu.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=72754
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OTHER NEWS MANAGEMENT OPENINGS:

ASSISTANT NEWS DIRECTOR:

WMUR-TV, Manchester, NH (listed 4/25/09)
WNEM-TV, Saginaw, MI (relisted 6/19/09)

EXECUTIVE NEWS PRODUCER:

KIAH-TV, Houston, TX (PM EP, relisted 6/14/09)
WESH-TV, Orlando, FL (relisted 5/15/09)
KXTV,    Sacramento, CA (Morning EP, relisted 6/19/09)
WDBJ-TV, Roanoke, VA (relisted 6/19/09)
WLTX-TV, Columbia, SC (listed 6/14/09)
KRNV-TV, Reno, NV (listed 5/22/09)

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OBITUARIES:

Funeral services were held yesterday (Thursday, July 2, 2009) in Columbus, OH, for BRYAN BARBIN, the 18 year old son of veteran news director LYN TOLAN and her huband, BRAD BARBIN.  Bryan died last weekend after an incident at a Columbus festival, as reported in this story from The Columbus Dispatch. You can find more details about Bryan and his life in this obituary.  Lyn’s a former ND in Columbus, Hartford, Orlando, Cincinnati, and Grand Rapids, MI.

I’m sorry to report the death of FRANK SHAFRAN, father of former Jacksonville (WJXT-TV) and Houston (KPRC-TV) news director NANCY SHAFRAN.  Mr. Shafran died just two weeks short of his 90th birthday.  He was a nuclear engineer who worked on the Manhattan Project and helped build the first nuclear power plant in this country.  He ran his first marathon at age 60!  Your note of sympathy would reach Nancy at: nancyshafran@thenwtgroup.com

And our sympathy to WBBJ-TV (Jackson, TN) news director BRAD GRANTHAM and his wife ANGIE who had a stillborn baby last month.  The family has established a memorial fund to both cover medical expenses and hopefully contribute to the Preeclampsia Foundation.  If you’d like to donate, you can send a check to:

Evangeline Rose Grantham Memorial Fund
Acct # 9530449308
c/o Regions Bank
11 Murray Guard Drive
Jackson, TN 38305

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Here’s a complete list of all stations that I believe have a current ND opening, as of Friday, July 3, 2009.  If you know of any updates, corrections, or additions to this list, please let me know via email at: rick@rickgevers.com

WNBC-TV   30 Rockefeller Plaza            New York NY 10012
WDIV-TV   550 W. Lafayette Blvd           Detroit MI 48231
KXLN-TV   9440 Kirby Dr.                  Houston TX 77054  ***
WTVJ-TV   15000 SW 27th Ave.              Miramar FL 33027
WOOD-TV   120 College SE                  Grand Rapids MI 49503
WZZM-TV   645 Three Mile Road NW          Grand Rapids MI 49504
WKRG-TV   555 Broadcast Dr.               Mobile AL 36606
WAND-TV   904 South Side Dr.              Decatur IL 62525
WFFF-TV   298 Mountain View Dr.           Colchester VT 05446
WLNS-TV   2820 E. Saginaw St.             Lansing MI 48912
WNCT-TV   3221 S. Evans St.               Greenville NC 27834
WPBN/WTOM-TV 8518 M 72 West               Traverse City MI 49684
WMGT-TV   PO Box 4328                     Macon GA 31208
KTEN-TV   10 HighPoint Circle             Denison TX 75020
KSAX-TV   PO Box 189                      Alexandria MN 56308

(BOLD indicates new opening this week.

*** indicates Spanish language station)