December 7, 2025
Thursday, December 11, 2025 UPDATE:
Greetings:
Two items worthy of an UPDATE today.
Ellis
Longtime Graham Media (formerly Post-Newsweek) executive BOB ELLIS resigned today, effective immediately, as GM of the company’s Detroit NBC affiliate, WDIV-TV. He’s been there since October, 2021. Bob had also been the ND at WDIV from 2007-2009 and served as GM of the company’s WJXT-TV (independent) in Jacksonville for the 12 years in between. More on his backgroun on his not yet deleted WDIV profile…read it quickly before it disappears!
His departure comes shortly after he was recognized as the #1 local manager in the country by Radio+Television Business Report. (Turn to page 10 of that issue for more.)
Carter
And longtime Hartford-New Haven, CT, News Director CHUCK CARTER is headed to Gray Media’s WBTV (CBS) in Charlotte as ND. He’s been the ND for Nexstar’s WTNH-TV (ABC) for the last seven plus years. That’s the latest in a large number of stops, a journey which began in Cadillac, MI. More on his Linkedin page. In Charlotte, Chuck replaces JASON STEVENS who left last month after two years as ND and three at the station.
We’ll have more on these stories and a number of other ND changes in our full report this weekend.
regards,
Rick Gevers
**** ***** ****
Greetings:
Hello from Indiana, home (at least for now) of the #1 College Football team in the land, and a rapidly declining NFL squad.
There’s ONE new news director this week, (and we’re removing another station from our list now that we have better clarification of a recent hire’s new role) and there are THREE new openings.
Our always unofficial list of open ND jobs grows to 27.
BARRY NASH is back with a column suggesting that anchors who stop posting on social media during the newscast might perform better.
We have an obituary for a former West Virginia News Director who also worked as a correspondent for CBS and NBC News.
There are several GM moves to share.
These stories are in Names in the News:
- Is a recent FCC decision good news for local TV stations?
- A veteran investigative reporter sticks his toe into management.
- A former Phoenix EP returns to her old station in a new role.
- Promotions for THREE people at CBS Stations Streaming.
- Gray establishes a scholarship in memory of one of its former NDs.
- And there’s a new award competion that’s free to enter, with just ONE unusual requirement.
All that…and more…below.
Newly Named News Directors:
Pérez
WSNS-TV, Chicago, IL…this Telemundo station (owned by NBC) has promoted assistant news director JOSE CARLOS PEREZ to be news director. He’s a two year veteran of the station and will report to SALLY RAMIREZ, who is the Senior Vice President of News, NBCUniversal Local Chicago. More details about his new role…and his career history…in this news release.
Bidwell
We need to clarify last week’s report about JEFF BIDWELL’s return to WPSD-TV in Paducah as Executive Editor for the Western Division of Paxson Media Group. He’ll oversee the station as well as two daily newspapers and five weeklies. That’s the same role held by PERRY BOXX who is, in his own words, taking “Senior Status” at the end of the year. (Some might call that retirement.) So we have removed the ND opening at WPSD from our list.
New News Director Openings:
WMAQ-TV, Chicago, IL…this NBC owned station has posted a job for news director. Whoever is hired will report to SALLY RAMIREZ, who is the Senior Vice President of News, NBCUniversal Local Chicago (just like JOSE CARLOS PEREZ, who we reported above has been promoted to ND for sister station WSNS-TV (Telemundo). This move resulted from AKEMI HARRISON’s departure as ND last August. She crossed the street to WGN-TV where she is Director of News and multi-platform content.
Jensen
KELO-TV, Sioux Falls, SD…BETH JENSEN is retiring in two weeks after almost 30 years at this station. She began as a reporter and worked her way up the ranks from producer to executive producer, and spending the last (almost) 18 years as news director. Here’s the note from GM MARI OSSENFORT, which includes Beth’s note to the staff. KELO is a CBS affiliate owned by the Nexstar Media Group.
Sweeney
KBMT-TV, Beaumont, TX…GINNY SWEENEY has left this Tegna owned ABC/NBC operation after slightly more than four years as news director. She’s a Beaumont native who has also worked in Wichita, St. Louis and Houston.
Paid Help Wanted Ads:
No ads this week. If you have a news management opening, there’s no better audience than ours to advertise that job. Please email me for details: rick@rickgevers.com
News Management Openings:
ASSISTANT NEWS DIRECTOR:
WDCA/WDVM, Washington, DC (listed 11/9/25)
WTNH-TV, New Haven, CT (listed 12/7/25)
WPTV, West Palm Beach, FL (listed 11/9/25)
KVVU-TV, Las Vegas, NV (listed 11/2/25)
WHO-TV, Des Moines, IA (relisted 11/16/25)
WJTV, Jackson, MS (listed 10/12/25)
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER:
WPIX-TV, New York, NY (listed 12/7/25)
KTLA-TV, Los Angeles, CA (Digital EP, relisted 11/23/25)
WGN-TV, Chicago, IL (listed 11/23/25)
WFLA-TV, Tampa, FL (Streaming Content EP/Host, modified 10/26/25)
KNXV-TV, Phoenix, AZ (listed 12/7/25)
KTVI/KPLR-TV, St. Louis, MO (listed 11/9/25)
WTNH-TV, New Haven, CT (Morning EP, listed 11/16/25)
WFTX-TV, Ft. Myers, FL (listed 10/26/25)
KSEE/KGPE-TV, Fresno, CA (listed 11/9/25)
WGRZ-TV, Buffalo, NY (relisted 10/19/25)
WKBW-TV, Buffalo, NY (listing modified 12/7/25)
WRIC-TV, Richmond, VA (EP of Digital Streaming) listed 10/26/25)
WBRE-TV, Wilkes-Barre, PA (Sr. EP of News & Streaming, relisted 11/2/25)
WBRE-TV, Wilkes-Barre, PA (listed 10/26/25)
WHO-TV, Des Moines, IA (Morning EP, listing revised 11/16/25)
WDBJ-TV, Roanoke, VA (listed 11/30/25)
WSYR-TV, Syracuse, NY (relisted 12/7/25)
KRIS-TV, Corpus Christi, TX (AM EP, listed 11/23/25)
WBOY-TV, Clarksburg, WV (Digital EP, listed 11/16/25)
WETM-TV, Elmira, NY (Digital EP, listed 10/26/25)
Other News Management Openings:
Listed 12/7/25:
WWL-TV, New Orleans, LA (Story Desk Manager)
WGBA-TV, Green Bay, WI (Executive Reporter)
Listed 11/16/25:
WXMI-TV, Grand Rapids, MI (Executive Reporter)
Listed 11/2/25:
WCPO-TV, Cincinnati, OH (Senior Manager of Digital Content)
Listed 10/26/25
KRIS-TV, Corpus Christi, TX (Executive Reporter)
Obituary:
Rabel
ED RABEL, a one time ND for WCHS-TV in Charleston, WV, died Wednesday at the age of 86. You may know him from his days as a correspondent for CBS and NBC News. At CBS, he conducted the last interview with Dr. MARTIN LUTHER KING before King’s 1968 assassination. This obituary says he wrote occasional columns for the local newspaper, including one where he said there was no reason to watch local TV news.
Names in the News (and other stuff):
Former GM and consultant HANK PRICE thinks a recent move by the FCC might be good news for local television stations. Check out his reasoning in his latest post from TVNewsCheck.com.
STEPHEN STOCK joins WBRZ-TV (ABC) in Baton Rouge, LA, where he will be the investigative reporter AND Assistant News Director. It will be a short move for Stephen who’s been at Gray’s WVUE-TV in New Orleans for the last year or so as Chief Investigative Reporter. He’s also worked as a National Investigative Correspondent for CBS News before layoffs cost him his role there.
SARAH DAVIS returns to Scripps’ KNXV-TV (ABC) in Phoenix as the Executive Reporter. She had been an EP there earlier in her career before taking a role with the company’s Talent Acquisition Team, a job she left last March. Sarah’s worked in some other large markets as you’ll find on her Linkedin page.
THREE veterans of local newsrooms are taking new roles for CBS Stations Streaming services. JOHN DAENZER, KYLE SEKIMOTO, and CATHY SHALLCROSS will each oversee a region. More here. Of note: Cathy is the daughter in law of veteran newsman JOE COSCIA.
Gray Television and friends of the late WSFA-TV (Montgomery, AL) news director DESMOND WINGARD are establishing a scholarship at Desmond’s alma mater, Troy University. He died last month at the age of 46, losing a long battle with cancer. He worked at WSFA for 26 years, the last 3+ as news director. More information on Desmond and the scholarship are here.
Finally, there are a lot of award competitions out there, and many of them are very expensive to enter. Old friend STACEY WOELFEL (the long time educator at Missouri and former ND at KOMU-TV) has found one that’s free with only one requirement:
You just have to piss off the White House.
General Manager News and Notes:
TWO General Manager moves this week.
MIKE WRIGHT moves from Huntsville, AL, to Wichita, where he’ll take over at Lockwood’s ABC affiliate there, KAKE-TV.
And longtime WLUK-TV (Green Bay, WI) GM JAY ZOLLAR is retiring after 26 years as GM for this FOX affiliate. He’ll be replaced by station manager TODD ZIEGLER.
Our List of Open News Director Jobs:
Here’s our list of open ND jobs as of Sunday, December 7, 2025:
It’s unofficial, there may be others that are open, and some of these may have been filled. If you know of any in either category, please let me know: rick@rickgevers.com
WMAQ-TV 454 N. Columbus Dr., Chicago, IL 60611
WDCW/WDVM-TV 2121 Wisconsin Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20007
KOVR/KMAX-TV 2713 KOVR Dr. W. Sacramento, CA 95605
WBTV, 1 Julian Price Place Charlotte, NC 28208
KSWB/KUSI-TV 7191 Engineer Rd., San Diego, CA 92111
WKRC-TV 1906 Highland Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45219
WITI-TV 9001 N Green Bay Rd. Milwaukee, WI 53209
WXMI-TV 3117 Plaza Drive NE Grand Rapids, MI 49525
WZZM-TV 645 3 Mile Rd. NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49544
WAVE-TV 725 S. Floyd St. Louisville KY 40203
KLEW-TV 2626 17th St, Lewiston, ID 83501
WISC-TV 7025 Raymond Road, Madison, WI 53719
KNVO-TV, 801 North Jackson Rd., McAllen TX 78501 **
WTVC-TV 4279 Benton Dr, Chattanooga, TN 37406
KXRM-TV 560 Wooten Road Colorado Springs CO 80915
WSIL-TV 1416 Country Aire Drive Carterville, IL 62918
WCTV 1801 Halstead Blvd. Tallahassee, FL 32309
KELO-TV 501 South Phillips Ave., Sioux Falls, SD 57104
WEAU-TV 1907 S. Hastings Way Eau Claire, WI 54701
WSAW-TV 1114 Grand Ave. Wausau, WI 54403
WCBI-TV 201 5th Street South Columbus, MS 39701
KSWO-TV 1401 SE 60th St. Lawton, OK 73501
KBMT-TV 525 Interstate 10 South, Beaumont, TX 77701
WTWO-TV 10849 N US Highway 41, Farmersburg, IN 47850
WBNG-TV 560 Columbia Dr. Johnson City, NY 13790
WWNY-TV 120 Arcade St. Watertown, NY 13601
KYOU-TV 820 West 2nd Street; Ottumwa, IA 52501
**: Spanish language station