People
Nebraska Public Media reported that longtime public TV leader Ron Hull has died at 92. Hull got his start at KUON-TV in 1955 and, after a career that included work at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS, was still a senior adviser to Nebraska Public Media.
Gray TV’s NBC15 (WMTV Madison) announced that Mark McPherson will become the station’s new evening co-anchor, replacing the retiring John Stofflet. McPherson has previously worked in La Crosse, Milwaukee, and Wausau and was most recently at Gray’s station in Colorado Springs.
Gray TV announced the retirement of VP and COO Bob Smith, who had been in the role since 2013. Prior to his corporate role, Smith was GM of Gray’s NBC15 (WMTV Madison).
Hubbard’s ABC6 (KAAL Austin-Rochester) announced that Robin Wolfram will join the station as evening co-anchor, replacing Laura Lee. Wolfram worked in the Rochester and Minneapolis markets and then HGTV before returning home to Iowa for family reasons.
Meanwhile, Laura Lee announced that she is moving to Gray NBC/CBS affiliate KBJR/6 (Superior-Duluth). The Rochester Post-Bulletin and Star Tribune both interviewed Lee about the decision.
Meteorologist Chris Kuball announced plans to join Tegna ABC affiliate WOI-DT/5 (Ames-Des Moines), departing KAAL after 15 years there.
Twin Cities PBS (KTCA/KTCI St. Paul) announced that longtime “Almanac” producer Brendan Henehan is retiring after 40 years with the station. Besides the weekly public affairs show, TPT says Henehan has also produced “more statewide political debates than any other Minnesotan.”
Flood Communications has hired Ben Root as operations manager for B103 (KBIE/103.1 Auburn-Nebraska City) and Otoe County Country (KNCY/1600 Nebraska City and K288GS/105.5 Nebraska City). Root will also host mornings on KBIE.
Stations and companies
The National Association of Broadcasters awarded Crystal Radio Awards to Hubbard Radio’s KS95 (KSTP-FM/94.5 St. Paul) and Good Karma Brands’ WTMJ/620 (Milwaukee) during the 2023 NAB Show in Las Vegas.
Numerous public media outlets have stopped posting updates on Twitter after the social media platform began posting warning labels implying that non-profit media organizations are actually government-controlled. Those who have gone silent include Iowa Public Radio, Minnesota Public Radio, and Wisconsin Public Radio. MPR, which is an independent non-profit, told supporters via email that it concluded that continued use of Twitter would be “contrary to our mission and core values” and that “Twitter is now actively aiming to undermine the integrity of public media organizations like ours.”
Local news livestreams from FOX owned-and-operated stations, including KMSP/9 (Minneapolis) and WITI/6 (Milwaukee), are now available on the Amazon News app for Fire TV. It appears Tubi was previously the only connected TV platform carrying the FOX O&O local feeds.
Nexstar announced that Chicago-based NewsNation will complete its expansion to a 24-hour weekday news service on April 24 when it launches programming in the 12 to 4 p.m. (Central) timeslot. NewsNation launched as an evening program in Sept. 2020 on the former WGN America, featuring content from NewsNation’s national team and local Nexstar stations.
Gray TV announced plans to launch a Monday through Friday news magazine, InvestigateTV+, starting in September. The program will complement the existing weekend version of InvestigateTV and will feature content from Gray’s investigative team and local stations. It will air on Gray stations and be syndicated to stations in non-Gray markets.
Iowa Public Radio’s broadcast outages page says that K214BA/90.7 (Mason City) is off the air with no estimated time of restoration.
In case you missed it here:
- Data Dump: Top Nebraska Radio Station Owners
- FCC Monitor: Several FM Signals Return, One AM Goes Silent
- Broadcast History: Cities That Never Got Their Allotted TV Stations
News tips? Press releases? Please send them to [email protected]!
Disclosure: Jon Ellis is an employee of Gray Media Group. The statements and views expressed in this posting are his own and do not reflect those of Gray Media Group.