B+C has selected its top performers in local television for 2019. Every year, B+C picks the top-performing station General Manager for markets 1-25, 26-50 and 51-plus; its top News Director, best Multiplatform Broadcaster and top Station Group of the Year.
Kathy Saunders, VP and general manager of Fox-owned KDFW Dallas, is the top GM for markets 1-25. She oversees a news operation cranking out over 60 hours a week and a station with a tireless dedication to community service. Saunders also provided astute leadership after KDFW headquarters was intentionally rammed by a truck late in 2018.
Tim Ingram, VP and general manager of Gray Television’s WVUE New Orleans, wins for markets 26-50. The station dethroned the longtime market leader in news races, and Ingram managed his staffers through a trying time when a beloved anchor was killed in a plane crash.
Rich O’Dell, president and general manager of Tegna’s WLTX Columbia (S.C.), wins for markets 51-plus. WLTX has made giant gains in a.m., early evening and late news, and under O’Dell’s leadership won South Carolina Station of the Year two years running.
News Director of the Year goes to Helga Silva, VP of content and news at NBCUniversal’s WSCV Miami. Silva expertly managed the Telemundo station’s coverage of child detention in South Florida, Hurricane Dorian and Puerto Rico’s gubernatorial crisis, among other major news stories.
The top Multiplatform Broadcaster in 2019 is ABC Owned Television Stations. ABC’s stations command giant audiences online commensurate to their place as news leaders, and reached out to new users with online platforms such as Localish and the group’s Community Journalism Initiative.
Group of the Year goes to Hearst TV. The stations were their usual local powerhouses in news and community affairs, and the group launched Project CommUNITY to explore the issues that divide local communities, and celebrate neighbors working to unite them, with each station taking part.
Each winner will be profiled in the Dec. 9 issue of Broadcasting+Cable.
