January 11, 2026
Greetings:
Not surprisingly, a busy week, as is often the case after the long holiday break.
THREE new news directors named, with just ONE new opening, that created by the retirement of a veteran newsman.
That lowers our list of open jobs to 23.
THREE obituaries this week. One’s for an agent who spent more than 40 years in that job, and TWO for long ago news directors.
TWO GM changes, including CBS assigning yet another GM to oversee two stations. At least these two are in the same state. We have what we think is the entire list.
And there’s some items in our Names in the News segment.
- A former CBS News VP gets a new job.
- A Scripps executive reporter goes west to the same job in a bigger market
- And a once unthinkable partnership in Ohio.
Read on for all those stories.
Newly Named News Directors:
Lattanzio
WMAQ-TV, Chicago, IL…our second UPDATE of the New Year shared the news that VINCE LATTANZIO was moving within NBC to become ND for this o-and-o, reporting to SALLY RAMIREZ, Senior VP of News. He’s been the Direcor of Digital Media for NBC’s WRC-TV in Washington and earlier worked for WCAU-TV in Philadelphia. He replaces AKEMI HARRISON who crossed the street in August to become ND for Nexstar’s WGN-TV.
Bach
WKOW-TV, Madison, WI…CAROLINE BACH will be the ND for this Allen Media owned ABC affiliate and will also oversee the news departments for THREE other Allen stations in Wisconsin. It’s all detailed in this story from the WKOW website. She first joined WKOW in 2014 and moved up the ladder. She succeeds DANI MAXWELL, prompted to national news director for Allen.
Peters
KELO-TV, Sioux Falls, SD…ANNA PETERS, a 25 year veteran of this Nexstar owned CBS affiliate, moves up to the ND job. She’s been an EP here since 2017 and replaces BETH JENSEN who retired at the end of 2025 after 30 years at the station, and almost 18 as news director. More details in this item from the KELO website.
New News Director Openings:
Bell
KVVU-TV, Las Vegas, NV…Wednesday’s first UPDATE of 2026 told you that TOM BELL’s long career in our business will end in late March when he retires from the ND job at this Gray Media owned FOX affiliate. Here’s the note from GM MICHAEL KORR. Tom’s been here for seven-plus years, and has also been an ND in Detroit, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Antonio, Salt Lake City, and he’s also worked in St. Louis.
Paid Help Wanted Ads:
No help wanted 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:
WMUR-TV, Manchester, NH (Boston market), listed 1/11/26)
KGW-TV, Portland, OR (listed 1/11/26)
WPTV, West Palm Beach, FL (listed 11/9/25)
KVVU-TV, Las Vegas, NV (listed 11/2/25)
WWL-TV, New Orleans, LA (relisted 1/11/26)
WHO-TV, Des Moines, IA (relisted 11/16/25)
WJTV, Jackson, MS (relisted 12/21/25)
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER:
KTLA-TV, Los Angeles, CA (Digital EP, relisted 11/23/25)
WCVB-TV, Boston, MA (listed 1/11/26)
WFLA-TV, Tampa, FL (Streaming Content EP/Host, relisted 1/11/26)
KNXV-TV, Phoenix, AZ (listed 12/7/25)
KTVI/KPLR-TV, St. Louis, MO (listed 11/9/25)
WTTV/WXIN-TV, Indianapolis, IN (AM EP, listed 12/21/25)
WBAL-TV, Baltimore, MD (listed 1/11/26)
WTNH-TV, New Haven, CT (Morning EP, listed 11/16/25)
WPBF-TV, West Palm Beach, FL (listed 1/11/26)
WXII-TV, Winston-Salem, NC (listed 1/11/26)
WFTX-TV, Ft. Myers, FL (relisted 1/11/26)
KSEE/KGPE-TV, Fresno, CA (listed 11/9/25)
WKBW-TV, Buffalo, NY (listing modified 12/7/25)
WBRE-TV, Wilkes-Barre, PA (listed 1/11/26)
WDKY-TV, Lexington, KY (listed 1/11/26)
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)
KXMB-TV, Bismarck, ND (Digital EP, listed 12/14/25)
WBOY-TV, Clarksburg, WV (Digital EP, listed 11/16/25)
WETM-TV, Elmira, NY (Digital EP, relisted 1/11/26)
Other News Management Openings:
Listed 1/11/26:
KXAN-TV, Austin, TX (Digital Director)
KTNV-TV, Las Vegas, NV (Real Time Desk Manager)
Listed 12/7/25:
WWL-TV, New Orleans, LA (Story Desk Manager)
WGBA-TV, Green Bay, WI (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)
Obituaries:
PAM PULNER, who served our industry for more than 40 years as an agent, died January 2nd. She was 72 years old. This obituary has more details about Pam’s life and interests, though not much information about her career. Per her request, the memorial service will be private.
LEE ELSESSER enjoyed a diverse career. He spent 17 years at KXAS-TV in Dallas-Ft. Worth, where he was the third ND at the station. According to this obituary, he became dissatisfied, worked for American Airlines in communications, and then spent 20+ years as a cooking instructor at a market in Ft. Worth. He died January 1st at the age of 87.
What an interesting name for a news director. JOSEPH SPORTS started in 1963 as the news director for WALB-TV in Albany, GA. He worked there for about three years before moving to a long career in politics. That’s detailed in his obituary, though in 2022 he returned to The Douglas (GA) Enterprise as a reporter for one year. Joe Sports was 91 when he died earlier this week.
Names in the News (and other stuff):
Friend
Former CBS executive DAVID FRIEND has a new job, according to a post on his Linkedin page. He’s the new Senior VP of Daytime News Programming for Newsmax Media. He’s been doing freelance work and blogging since leaving CBS in 2021.
JON ERICKSON moves west to WXMI-TV (FOX) in Grand Rapids, MI, as the executive reporter for this Scripps station. He’s been executive reporter for sister Scripps station, WSYM-TV, in Lansing, MI.
And in a move once thought unthinkable, Nexstar’s WCMH-TV (NBC) in Columbus, OH, and The Columbus Dispatch have entered into a content sharing agreement. Why, you ask, is that unthinkable? Because for many years the Dispatch and WBNS-TV (CBS) were both owned by the Wolfe family. That ended when Tegna bought both WBNS and WTHR-TV (NBC) in Indianapolis.
General Manager News and Notes:
Warren
CBS continues consolidating GM jobs by assigning SCOTT WARREN to oversee KOVR/KMAX-TV in Sacramento and naming him President and GM of (CBS) Northern California, despite his title in the release. He’s been the GM of KPIX-TVin San Francisco since 2022. He replaces DEB COLLURAwho’d been GM here for four years. She’s left the company. NEW THIS EDITION: the note Deb sent to the staff.
Other examples of consolidation of GM jobs at CBS:
JOHNNY GREEN, JR., oversees WCBS-TV in New York and WBZ-TV in Boston.
TIM WIELAND runs both KCBS/KCAL-TV in Los Angeles and KCNC-TV in Denver.
And JENNIFER LYONS is GM for both WBBM-TV in Chicago and WWJ-TV in Detroit.
Of note: all have news backgrounds.
Santiago
KRISTY SANTIAGO only has to worry about one market! She’s the new General Manager for Gray’s KFVS-TV (CBS) in Cape Girardeau, MO (though that is a hyphenated market). Kristy has been the GM for KION-TV in Monterey, CA, and has also run stations in Grand Junction and Palm Desert. Details in this Gray news release.
Our List of Open News Director Jobs:
Here’s our list of open ND jobs as of Sunday, January 11, 2026:
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
KDEN-TV 4100 East Dry Creek Rd. Centennial, CO 80122 **
KOVR/KMAX-TV 2713 KOVR Dr. W. Sacramento, CA 95605
WITI-TV 9001 N Green Bay Rd. Milwaukee, WI 53209
KVVU-TV 25 TV5 Dr. Henderson, NV 89014
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
KKTV 3100 N Nevada Ave, Ste B, Colorado Springs, CO 80907
WSIL-TV 1416 Country Aire Drive Carterville, IL 62918
WCTV 1801 Halstead Blvd. Tallahassee, FL 32309
WFXG-TV 4221 Washington Rd. Martinez GA 30907
WEAU-TV 1907 S. Hastings Way Eau Claire, WI 54701
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
KALB-TV 605 Washington Street, Alexandria, LA 71301
KYOU-TV 820 West 2nd Street; Ottumwa, IA 52501
KAVU-TV. 3808 N Navarro St. Victoria, TX 77901
**: Spanish language station