January 4, 2026
Thursday, January 8, 2026 UPDATE:
Greetings:
Another day, another update…this one with two items: An ND hire in a top three market, and a former ND turned GM leaves her job at an o-and-o…and her replacement will keep his current job and add her duties.
Lattanzio
VINCE LATTANZIO has been named news director for NBC’s WMAQ-TV in Chicago, where he will report to SALLY RAMIREZ. She’s the Senior VP of News for NBC 5 Chicago-Telemundo Chicago. Details in this news release. Vince has been Director of Digital Media for NBC’s WRC-TV in Washington and earlier spent 13 years at NBC’s WCAU-TV in Philadelphia. He replaces AKEMI HARRISON who crossed the street in August to become ND for Nexstar’s WGN-TV.
Warren
And a change in the GM chair at CBS’s KOVR/KMAX-TV in Sacramento. SCOTT WARREN, who’s the GM for CBS’s KPIX-TV in San Francisco, has been promoted to President and GM of Northern California and will add oversight of the Sacramento operations. That’s according to this news release. (One assumes that he’s merely President and GM of CBS Northern California and has not usurped power from Governor GAVIN NEWSOM.) He replaces DEBORAH COLLURA who’s been GM there since 2022.
As we predicted last weekend, it’s been a busy week. We hope to have more on these stories and the rest of the news this weekend.
regards,
Rick Gevers
Wednesday, January 7, 2026 UPDATE:
Greetings:
Our first UPDATE of the new year involves the pending retirement of a long time news director.
Bell
TOM BELL, who’s been ND for Gray’s KVVU-TV (FOX) in Las Vegas since 2018, will end his long career at the end of March. KVVU GM MICHAEL KORR sent this note to the staff. Tom’s Linkedin page contains most…though not all…of his career history…which includes an ND gig in Detroit and a stint or two in St. Louis. He also served as ND for the legendary Canadian radio station CKLW-AM in Windsor, ON.
We’ll have more on Tom’s retirement and the rest of the news this weekend.
regards,
Rick Gevers
**** ***** ****
Greetings:
This should not surprise you.
In this holiday week, NO news director changes of any kind,.
That keeps our always unofficial list of open jobs at just 24.
We have obituaries for TWO long ago news directors who had a few things in common. They both anchored and they both started jobs in 1966.
NO GM changes.
But there’s LOTS of interesting items in our Names in the News segment.
- TONY DOKOUPIL starts his job as CBS Evening News anchor early.
- But controversy swirls around a pledge he made in promos.
- GEORGE CLOONEY gets an invite to visit the Broadcast Center after he accuses BARI WEISS of ‘dismantling’ CBS News.
- CBS’s New Year’s Eve special lost its signal for 12 minutes. Matlock to the rescue!
- A promotion for a former CBS o-and-o news director.
- And a former ND’s suit against Nexstar is one step closer to a jury trial.
Read on for all those stories.
We’ll be back next weekend with what will likely be a more active newsletter.
Until then. have a great New Year!
Newly Named News Directors:
With the holidays, to my knowledge no new news directors were hired this week. Please let me know if I’m wrong: rick@rickgevers.com
New News Director Openings:
I am not aware of any openings this week. Always happy to learn via your email if I missed something: rick@rickgevers.com
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:
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)
WWL-TV, New Orleans, LA (listed 12/14/25)
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)
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)
WTTV/WXIN-TV, Indianapolis, IN (AM EP, listed 12/21/25)
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)
WKBW-TV, Buffalo, NY (listing modified 12/7/25)
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)
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, 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)
Obituaries:
Tomek
GEORGE TOMEK, who anchored and also served as the news director for KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City, died this week at the age of 86. He started his career in Tulsa before moving to Oklahoma city in 1966. KFOR remembered him here.
Kelly
There were similarities between George’s career and that of another former news director and anchor. CHUCK KELLY also joined his station, KTHV-TV in Little Rock in 1966 and spent eleven years there. He later went to work for Arkansas Power and Light in a corporate communications role. More here.
Names in the News (and other stuff):
Doukoupil
TONY DOKOUPIL’s stint as anchor of the CBS Evening news started earlier than planned when he anchored Saturday after the capture of Venezuelan President NICOLAS MADURO. Before that appearance, this article in The Hill reported on his pledge for transparency and his criticism of some legacy media.
JON PASSATINO, writing for Status.News, summarized the criticism of Dokoupil’s pledge.
Actor GEORGE CLOONEY (whose father was the legendary news anchor NICK CLOONEY) accused new CBS Editor-in Chief BARI WEISS of dismantling CBS News.
Weiss responded by inviting Clooney to visit the CBS Broadcast Center to ‘learn more’ about what happens there.
And in one bit of bad news for CBS that you can’t blame on Weiss (at least, I don’t think you can), the network’s live New Year’s Eve broadcast lost its signal for about 12 minutes, forcing a brief except of the series Matlock to run in its place.
Tang
A court ordered pre-trial settlement conference ended without an agreement in STANTON TANG‘s lawsuit against his former employer, Nexstar. Tang sued the company about a year after he was fired from his job as news director for WOOD-TV (NBC) in Grand Rapids, MI. At issue: a memo he ordered his assistant news director to write about the station’s coverage of Pride Month events. Details from The Desk.
Patey
Congratulations to former WCCO-TV (CBS owned-Minneapolis-St. Paul) news director KARI PATEY. According to her Linkedin post, she’s taken anew role at CBS as VP of News Content, Innovation and Special Projects. She’s been VP of Producer Development for CBS since leaving her ND job at ‘CCO in October 2023. She’s also worked in New York and for another Minneapolis TV station.
General Manager News and Notes:
No items! Please let me know if I’ve missed anything: rick@rickgevers.com
Our List of Open News Director Jobs:
Here’s our list of open ND jobs as of Sunday, January 4, 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
WMAQ-TV 454 N. Columbus Dr., Chicago, IL 60611
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
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
KELO-TV 501 South Phillips Ave., Sioux Falls, SD 57104
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