Broadcast TV
Bill Snider,
retired VP/GM, WTVO(TV) Rockford, Ill., joins WBUI(TV) Decatur, Ill., as VP/GM.
J.D. Huey,
general sales manager, WIAT(TV) Birmingham, Ala., promoted to VP/GM.
Promotions at WDWB(TV) Detroit: David Bangura,
local sales manager, promoted to national sales manager; Denny Zinchook,
account manager, promoted to local sales manager.
Charles Gordon,
general sales manager, WBRC(TV) Birmingham, Ala., joins WXIX-TV Newport, Ky., in the same capacity.
Cable TV
Appointments at Cox Communications: Gary E. Cassard,
VP/GM, Gainesville, Fla., system, named VP, systems operations, Louisiana region;Jay Rolls,
VP, network engineering, Excite@Home, Atlanta, joins as VP, data engineering, Atlanta.
Appointments at Insight Communications: Jim Hires,
GM, Western suburban region, AT&T Broadband, Elmhurst, Ill., joins as VP/GM, Columbus, Ohio; Don Layher,
regional director, AT&T Broadband, Salt Lake City, joins as director, marketing, Illinois region.
David Shane,
director, public relations and programming, CN8, The Comcast Network, Philadelphia, promoted to VP, public relations, Eastern division, Comcast Cable, Philadelphia.
Programming
Ricardo Rodriguez,
senior VP, programming and productions, Discovery Networks, International, Silver Spring, Md., promoted to executive VP, international content.
Fred Burrows,
VP, CNN Newsource Sales, St. Louis, promoted to senior VP.
Kristin Peace,
VP, Game Show Network, Los Angeles, named VP, development, domestic television division, Paramount Television Group, Los Angeles.
Ann Blakely,
VP, marketing and distribution, WomensNewsLink.com, Washington, joins The National Geographic Channel, Washington, as VP, business development.
Dan Lynch,
VP, business development, MyFamily.com, New York, joins A&E Network, New York, as director, merchandising and direct response, consumer products division.
Elizabeth Ascencio,
manager, affiliate sales, Eastern region, NBC Cable Networks, Fort Lee, N.J., promoted to director, affiliate sales, Southeast region.
Deborah Branch,
lawyer, private practice, New York, joins In Demand, New York, as senior director, business affairs, and senior counsel.
Radio
Appointments at Clear Channel Radio: Jake Karger,
executive VP, Boston market, named regional VP, Boston trading area; Manuel Rodriguez,
regional executive VP, New York, named regional VP, New York trading area; Linda Byrd,
market manager, Orlando, Fla., named regional VP, Southeast division; Rick Green,
director, Florida radio networks, promoted to VP, Southeast region state networks; Lee Larsen,
VP/market manager, AM stations, Denver, promoted to VP/market manager, Denver cluster.
Mark McDonald,
manager, news team and programming, WNYC-FM New York, joins WAMU(FM) Washington as program director.
Jose Villanfane,
senior account executive, Katz Hispanic Media, Coral Gables, Fla., appointed national sales manager, WNMA(AM) Miami Springs, Fla.
Neal Conan,
acting host, Talk of the Nation, NPR, Washington, named host.
Bill Mazer,
host, Mazer in the Morning, WEVD(AM) New York, named host, Amazing Mazer, WVOX(AM) New Rochelle, N.Y./WRTN(FM) New York
Journalism
Dan Schillinger,
news director, KWCH-TV Hutchinson, Kan., joins KCEN-TV Temple, Texas, in the same capacity.
Mika Brzezinski,
anchor/reporter, MSNBC, New York, joins CBS News, New York, as correspondent.
Dan Harden,
reporter/anchor, KVOA(TV) Tucson, Ariz., joins WGHP(TV) High Point, N.C., in the same capacity.
Cameron Harper,
main anchor, KTVK(TV) Phoenix, joins KNXV-TV Phoenix, as news anchor.
Jonathan Freed,
network correspondent, CBS News, Los Angeles/Washington, named senior anchor/news editor, Global Television Network, Montreal, Canada.
Doug Bell,
weekend anchor, KPHO-TV Phoenix, joins WNCN(TV) Goldsboro, N.C., as weekday evening anchor.
Brian Bolter,
reporter/fill-in anchor, WTTG(TV) Washington, promoted to weekend anchor.
Leah Anderson,
sports anchor, KEVN-TV Rapid City, S.D., joins WLOS(TV) Asheville, N.C., as sports reporter.
Jenni Lee,
weekend news anchor, KBTX-TV Bryan, Texas, joins KTBC(TV) Austin, Texas, in the same capacity.
Associations/Law Firms
Appointments to the Hollywood Radio & Television Society, Los Angeles: Rick Rosen,
founding partner/agent, Endeavor, Los Angeles, named president; Kevin Reilly,
president, entertainment, FX Networks, Los Angeles, named VP.
Appointments to the board of directors, Broadcast Financial Management Association, Des Plaines, Ill.: Edward Diechman,
senior VP/controller, Media General, Richmond, Va., named co-chair, human resource & education committee; Mark Fratrik,
VP, BIA Financial Network, Chantilly, Va., named co-chair, new media committee; Ronald Gertz,
president/founder, Music Reports Inc., Burbank, Calif., named chairman, information technology committee; Leslie Hartmann,
VP, finance/corporate controller, Radio One Inc., Lanham, Md., named co-chair, radio committee; Peter Housman,
president/CEO, Housman Advisors, Coral Gables, Fla., named co-chair, cable committee; Anthony Vasconcellos,
senior VP/CFO, Regent Communications, Covington, Ky., named chairman, accounting standards committee.
Obituaries
Thomas J. Pappalardo,
vice president of sales services and administration at Twentieth Television, Fox's syndication arm, died of a heart attack Sept. 10 in his home in West Orange, N.J. He was 37. After first moving to California, he became a personal assistant to comedian Alan Thicke but Pappalardo joined distributor Pacific Syndication in 1989 and joined Twentieth Television in 1994; he was last promoted in 2000. He is survived by his partner, William Gentile; his parents, Mary and Joe Pappalardo, a brother and sister and their families, aunts and uncles. —Beatrice Williams-Rude
Solomon Sagall,
who considered himself a "televisionary," died in Manhattan on Sept. 6 at 101. He was an innovator and early advocate of pay TV. His company, Teleglobe Pay-TV Systems, had concepts that aided cable, but cable overtook him because it had the programming. He licensed his pay-per-view technology to cable companies.
Sagall was born in Russia, emigrated to Berlin in the wake of the Russian Revolution, then went to London. He began his career as a journalist, but in 1929, upon reading about a Hungarian engineer's invention for transmitting video images through the air, Sagall changed his direction. His first company, Scophony, was used to broadcast sporting events to 4-foot-high television screens in London. His goal was for television to make "every home a theater" with "television universities" and "news for breakfast."
Later Sagall moved to New York and became a leading proponent of pay-TV. He thought that charging a fee would lift the quality of broadcast fare because, as he told BROADCASTING magazine "Advertiser-financed television and mediocrity are as inseparable as Siamese twins." Similarly, in 1967 he told a House Subcommitte that bad television fare produced "a negative, paralyzing impact, particularly on the minds of the impressionable younger generation."
In 1984 Sagall was elected a fellow of the Royal Television Society of London.
He is survived by a son, Joel, of New York; two nephews, Sabby Sagall of London; and Myron Sagall of Silver Spring, Md. —B.W-R
Michael Libretti,
37, executive vice president of operations and CFO of Nassau Broadcasting, died of cancer Sept. 16 at his home in Madison, N.J. Libretti joined Nassau, which owns 16 radio station in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, in 1996 as senior vice president, operations. Before that he was with AT&T Capital Corp. Libretti is survived by his wife, Anne, and two children. —John Eggerton
