What's your fate?
Send it to Llanor Alleyne, editorial assistant, Broadcasting & Cable (e-mail: palleyne@reedbusiness; fax: 646-746-7028; mail: 360 Park Avenue South, New York, N.Y., 10010).
Programming
Daniel Scolan,
CEO, @viso, Paris, appointed executive VP, investor relations, Vivendi Universal, Paris.
Steve Armstrong,
senior VP/general counsel, Agilera Inc., Denver, appointed executive VP/general counsel, Home Shopping Network, St. Petersburg, Fla.
Mark Hotz,
VP, marketing and e-business initiatives, NBC Cable Networks, Fort Lee, N.J., promoted to senior VP, marketing.
At Fox Cable Networks, Los Angeles: Mike Hopkins,
VP, national accounts, and Sean Riley,
VP, sales operations, both promoted to senior vice president, affiliate sales.
At MTV New York: Tony DiBari
executive producer, named VP, current production; Joe DeMaio,
staff director, named senior director, production; Tommy Cody,
writer, MTV Video Music Awards, named editorial director, MTV.
Dave Noguerol,
director, Mid-Eastern region, network distribution and service, Hallmark Channel, New York, promoted to senior director.
Ronit Koren,
manager, marketing, Fox Television Studios, Los Angeles, named director, marketing.
Pamela Graham,
director, interactive ad sales marketing and sponsorships, Discovery Networks, Bethesda, Md., promoted to national director, advertising sales marketing.
At Trio, New York: Todd Ames,
VP, brand marketing, LexiQuest Inc., New York, joins as director, consumer marketing; Jane Olson,
director, on-air promotion and branding, AMC Networks, New York, joins as creative director.
Radio
John Martin,
president, Web services group, Clear Channel, Chicago, is leaving to launch Converge Media, Chicago.
Robert Bucci,
associate VP, Medialink, New York, joins Syndicated Solutions, Ridgefield, Conn., as director, affiliate sales.
Journalism
Terry Heifetz,
former producer, The Wall Street Journal Report, CNBC, New York, named managing editor, Digital News Project, Ball State University, Muncie, Ind.
CNN, New York: Whitney Casey,
general assignment reporter, WCBS-TV New York, joins as correspondent; Jamie Colby,
fill-in anchor, CBS News, joins as correspondent.
Elizabeth Sanchez,
weekend anchor, KPHO-TV Phoenix, joins CBS Newspath, New York, as correspondent.
Nydia Han, consumer/investigative reporter, KTRK-TV Houston, joins WPVI-TV Philadelphia, in the same capacity.
Geraud Moncure,
weekend sports anchor, KCOP(TV) Los Angeles, joins WPHL-TV Philadelphia, as sports director/main sports anchor/host, Sunday Sports Extra.
Obituaries
Longtime CBS newsman and journalism educator Ed Bliss,
90, a contemporary of Edward R. Murrow and founder of the broadcast journalism program at American University in Washington, died of a respiratory disorder Nov. 25.
"Ed Bliss was a mentor to some of today's best broadcast journalists," said Barbara Cochran, president of the Radio-Television News Directors Association, which gave Bliss its Paul White Award in 1993.
Longtime CBS news producer and 60 Minutes
creator Don Hewitt said, "Ed Bliss worked in radio when it was the end-all and be-all of news broadcasting, and he was the editor for Murrow's boys. There was no one better."
Ernest Leiser,
81, a veteran CBS News producer and foreign correspondent, died of an apparent heart attack Tuesday, Nov. 26, in South Nyack, N.Y., where he had been a longtime resident.
As a correspondent, Leiser reported primarily from Europe, where he was jailed by the Communists during the Hungarian revolt in 1956. He escaped with footage of the revolt and went on to cover unrest in Czechoslovakia, Romania, East Germany and Bulgaria. As a news writer and producer, he helped produce coverage of the assassination of President Kennedy, then became executive producer of CBS Evening News With Walter Cronkite, which he helped overtake NBC's The Huntley-Brinkley Report
in the ratings.
He retired as VP, deputy director, of News, in 1985 and went on to teach at Columbia University and was a senior fellow at the Gannett Center for Media Studies.
Former ABC News executive Joanna Bistany,
55, died Dec. 1, after a long battle with cancer.
Bistany was with the network for 17 years, having risen to senior VP before leaving in 2000 to produce on her own.
She joined ABC News in 1983 as director of news information and served as the news division's principal spokesperson. She became senior news programming executive, was the main liaison between ABC News and the ABC Television Network and the Walt Disney Co., and had a management role in 20/20, Primetime Live,
Turning Point, ABC News Nightline
and This Week With
David Brinkley.
Prior to joining ABC News, Bistany worked at the White House as Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan for Communications.
ABC News Chairman Roone Arledge called her "one of the most important executives working with me to build ABC News."
Nina Elias Bamberger,
48, children's-TV producer, died Nov. 20 of ovarian cancer. She was living in Orlando, Fla.
Bamberger had been an executive with Sesame Workshop, where her credits included executive producer of Dragon Tales; creator of Big Bag, a joint production with Cartoon Network, and of the Emmy-winning prime time NBC special, Sesame Street: Twenty and Still Counting
Leslie G. Arries Jr.,
veteran television broadcaster, died Dec. 1 following complications of a brain tumor. He was 77.
Arries's career began in 1946 when he helped to build the experimental station W3XWT—now WTTG (TV)— Washington. He would subsequently establish WHDH (now WCVB-TV) Boston and become president of Westinghouse's Production and Syndication Co, responsible for the Mike Douglas and Merv Griffin shows. In 1967, he went to Buffalo, N.Y., to run WBEN(AM)/FM/TV (now WIVB-TV).
He was also a recipient of the National Broadcasters Association's American Broadcast Pioneer Award. He retired in 1989.
