NorthPine: Upper Midwest Broadcasting

Weekly Log: DeRusha Departs, Milwaukee Shifts, KSO’s Return?

Jon Ellis Jon Ellis

People

Jason DeRusha is leaving his current role as morning news co-anchor at CBS owned-and-operated WCCO-TV/4.1 (Minneapolis). The station’s announcement says DeRusha will continue to have “a contributing role for station events and special projects” and coverage by the Pioneer Press and the Star Tribune elaborates that DeRusha will be taking a new, yet-to-be-announced job in Minnesota.

Meanwhile, reporter Jonah Kaplan announced last week that he has been hired as an investigative reporter at WCCO-TV. He currently works for the ABC O&O station in Raleigh, NC and also worked in Milwaukee from 2013 to 2016.

In Milwaukee, the Journal Sentinel reported that Adrienne Pedersen is leaving the morning anchor desk at Hearst ABC affiliate WISN-TV/12. Gerron Jordan has been promoted to replace her as co-anchor.

Alejandra Palacios has been promoted to the 10 p.m. co-anchor position at Telemundo Wisconsin (WYTU-LD Milwaukee).

Rick Gevers reports that Dan Clouse is leaving the news director’s office at Red River’s FOX 21 (KQDS-TV Duluth) to take the same role at Allen Media CBS affiliate KIMT/3.1 (Mason City-Rochester). Clouse previously worked at KIMT as an anchor/reporter in the 1990s.

Scripps announced that Dave German is leaving the general manager role at CBS affiliate KMTV/3.1 (Omaha) to take the same role at a station in Texas. German had been at KMTV since October.

The Nebraska Broadcasters Association noted that Brad Gould has been named the general manager of Summit Media’s group of five radio stations in Omaha.

RadioInsight reports that Midwest CHR legend WIXX/101.1 (Green Bay) has hired Dan ‘Huggie’ Amsden for afternoons.

InsideRadio notes that former WCCO morning host Dave Lee is now hosting a podcast called “My First Concert.”

Wisconsin Public Radio announced that Dr. Jonathan Øverby, host of “The Road to Higher Ground,” has been inducted into Folk Alliance International’s Folk DJ Hall of Fame.

Channel updates

A viewer on AVS Forum noted that Scripps’ KPXM (St. Cloud-Minneapolis) is now carrying QVC on channel 41.8, returning a network that had previously aired on a different KPXM channel.

Gray TV’s K23MQ-D (Duluth) is now relaying sister CW station KDLH/3.1 (Duluth), including all of its subchannels (though two are labelled with their networks’ former names, Justice and Escape). K23MQ uses virtual channel 23.

Companies and stations

With WELY-FM/94.5 and WELY/1450 (Ely) facing a June 1 signoff, the Timberjay recently reported on talks about transferring the station to the City of Ely and having the station operated by a non-profit group.

TVNewsCheck released its annual list of the top TV station group owners showing Nexstar as the top revenue-generating company followed by Gray, Tegna, Sinclair, and FOX. St. Paul-based Hubbard Broadcasting placed 16th nationally despite reaching a smaller percentage of households than many groups farther down on the list.

Inside Radio recently reported on Saga Broadcasting’s efforts to restore the KSO callsign to KRNT/1350 (Des Moines). Most people may remember KSO as being on the 1460 facility that is now KXNO, but the KSO callsign was originally used by a station in Clarinda that moved to Des Moines and became KRNT in 1935.

News tips? Press releases? Please send them to jonellis@northpine.com!

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