Broadcast TV
Wendy McMahon,
creative services director, KXAN-TV Austin, Texas, joins WCCO-TV Minneapolis in the same capacity.
Matthew P. Donegan,
national sales manager, WTTV(TV) Indianapolis, joins WRAZ(TV) Raleigh, N.C., in the same capacity.
Dave Shelly,
producer, WITI(TV) Milwaukee, joins WCGV-TV/WVTV(TV) Milwaukee as promotion manager.
Cable TV
Amy Smith,
VP/GM, Chester and Lancaster, Pa., cable systems, Comcast Cable, named area VP, Southern New Jersey.
Therese Cloar,
director, operations, Northern Kentucky system, Insight Communications, promoted to VP/GM.
Programming
Julie Pinchuk McNamara,
executive director, drama series, ABC Entertainment, Burbank, Calif., promoted to VP, drama programming.
Deborah K. Bradley, Southwest regional manager, Dallas, Paramount Domestic Television, has been named VP, Western regional sales manager, Los Angeles.
Marnie Malter,
director, communications, MTV, New York, promoted to VP.
At Bravo Networks: John Baghdassarian,
VP, affiliate relations, MuchMusic USA, Los Angeles, joins as VP, affiliate sales and marketing, Western region, Santa Monica, Calif.; Scott Murrow,
marketing, manager, promoted to regional sales manager, Western region; Jennifer Ringblom,
marketing communications coordinator, Advocate Healthcare, Chicago, joins as affiliate marketing manager, central region, Chicago.
Ken Wolfe ,
producer, Monday Night Football, ABC, New York, named executive producer, Varsity Entertainment, New York.
Robert de Metz,
fund manager, Vivendi Universal, Paris, France, named executive VP/member, management team.
At Wheel of Fortune, Culver City, Calif.: Karen Griffith
and Steve Schwartz, producers, have been named senior producers.
At Jeopardy, Culver City, Calif.: Lisa Broffman, Rocky Schmidt and Gary Johnson, all producers, have been promoted to senior producer.
Mireya Mayor,
primatologist, New York, joins National Geographic Explorer, Washington, as field specialist.
Media
John P. Loughlin,
president/CEO, Primedia consumer media and magazine group and executive VP, Primedia, New York, named president, TV Guide publishing group, Gemstar-TV Guide International, New York.
Journalism
V.J. McAleer,
executive producer, Chicago Tonight
and Chicago Week in Review, WTTW(TV), promoted to senior VP, production.
Penny Britell,
senior producer, This Week With Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts, ABC News, Washington, joins CBS News'The Early Show, Washington, in the same capacity.
Carolina Correa,
reporter, Colombian Television, joins Associated Press Television News, as producer, Bogota, Columbia.
Robin Sewell,
main anchor, KNXV-TV Phoenix, left the station on Sept. 13 to pursue other opportunities.
At KCBS-TV Los Angeles: Suzanne Rico,
weekend anchor, KNSD(TV) San Diego, joins as weekday morning anchor; Glen Walker,
anchor/reporter, WNBC(TV) New York joins as reporter/ fill-in anchor.
Denise Valdez,
anchor/reporter, KXAS-TV Dallas, joins KNBC(TV) Los Angeles as weekend evening anchor.
Noel Tucker, freelance reporter, WTTG(TV) Washington, joins WBAL-TV Baltimore as weekend anchor.
Andrew Pergam,
reporter, WFSB-TV Hartford, Conn., joins WVIT-TV Hartford in the same capacity.
Kevin Garcia,
sports anchor, Fox Sports, Los Angeles, joins KSWB-TV San Diego as sports director, WB News at Ten.
Jim Castello,
meteorologist, KCBS-TV Los Angeles, joins WNYW(TV) New York as weekend meteorologist.
Pam Oliver,
anchor, Fox Sports South, Atlanta, promoted to sideline reporter, Fox NFL Sunday.
Samantha Ryan,
sportscaster, WABC-TV New York, adds sideline reporter, ABC Sports.
Radio
Eric Hansen,
GM, Scandinavian division, SBS Broadcasting, Luxembourg, Denmark, appointed senior VP/head, radio division.
Les Jacoby,
program director, WEAT(AM) West Palm Beach, Fla., joins WKTK(FM) Gainesville/ Ocala, Fla., in the same capacity.
Technology
Jim Faust,
president/COO, Antec Network Technologies, Atlanta, named CEO, Optinel Systems, Elkridge, Md.
John Wadle,
VP, product management, automation division, Encoda Systems, Denver, named VP, product management, Odetics Broadcast, Anaheim, Calif.
Bob DeFoe,
president, Teranex, Orlando, Fla., named CEO.
Advertising/Marketing/PR
At Inter/Media Advertising, Encino, Calif.: Larry Bickel,
traffic manager, Deutsch, Los Angeles, joins as traffic supervisor; Andrew Brousard,
account supervisor/media buyer, Janik & Associates, Los Angeles, rejoins as media buyer; Charmaine Wash,
media buyer, Mercury Media, named media buyer.
Allied Fields
Appointments at Carlsen Resources: Dan Washington,
director, finance, Grand
Junction, Colo., named senior VP/COO; Jeannine Sommer,
VP, named senior VP, New York.
Bob Kaminsky,
producer, King Biscuit Flower Hour
and Silver Eagle Cross-Country Music Show
radio shows, named partner, Riptide Music, Marina del Rey, Calif.
Obituaries
Cable industry veteran Peter Barton
died Sept. 8 after a battle with stomach cancer. He was 51.
Barton served as Liberty Media's president and CEO from its inception in 1991 until 1997. He previously headed former cable operator Tele-Communications Inc.'s programming arm, brokering carriage deals for cable networks. Liberty Media Chairman John Malone recruited him out of Harvard Business School in 1982 to join his cable company, which was later sold to AT&T.
"Peter was there at the inception of Liberty Media and its subsequent versions, and he was critically important in building it into what it was," Malone said last week.
Early in his TCI career, Barton was president of shopping channel Cable Value Network (now QVC) and VP of franchise acquisition. Since leaving Liberty, he had headed a technology investment firm and founded a consumer-privacy watchdog group at the University of Denver.
Barton, who will be inducted into the BROADCASTING & CABLE Hall of Fame Nov. 11, attended the MTV Video Music Awards Aug. 28.
He is survived by his wife, Laura, and their three children.
Dirty Harry
scribe Dean Reisner
died Aug. 18 at his Los Angeles home. He was 83.
Reisner, who at age 3 was seen in Charlie Chaplin's The Pilgrim
in 1923, is credited with contributing famous lines to Clint Eastwood megahits Dirty Harry
and The Enforcer.
His television writing credits include Western series Rawhide
(1959-66), which featured Eastwood, and the much praised miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man
(1976).
