Contact P. Llanor Alleyne at 212-337-7141 or palleyne@cahners.com
Broadcast TV
John Cottingham,
GM, WIS-TV Columbia, S.C., joins WSPA-TV Spartanburg, S.C., WASV-TV Asheville, N.C., and WNEG-TV Toccoa, Ga., as VP/GM.
John O'Laughlin,
manager, promotions and marketing, KDVR(TV) Denver, appointed creative services director, KWGN-TV Denver.
Chuck Allenstein,
systems engineer, Journal Broadcast Group, Milwaukee, promoted to director, information technologies.
Cable TV
Promotions at Comcast Cable Communications: All of the following are in Union, N.J.
: Maria Carriere,
manager, collections, promoted to regional director; Fred Kopecki,
regional manager, new-business development, promoted to regional director; Peter J. Lyden III,
regional manager, promoted to regional director, government relations; Debra Marshall,
regional manager, promoted to regional director, public relations; Irene Schaefer,
manager, information services, promoted to regional director. All of the following are in Eatontown, N.J.
: Warren Heimall,
regional manager, engineering/operations, promoted to regional director; Barbara Irwin,
regional technical analyst, promoted to regional operations business manager; Pricilla Reilly,
regional manager, Pay Per View, promoted to regional director, Pay Per View/Video On Demand;Margaret O. Woodside,
VP, Amerix Corp., Columbia, Md., joins as regional director, community relations, Maryland/Delaware region, Baltimore.
Michael Grover,
director, legal affairs, Media One/AT&T Broadband, Atlanta, joins Cox Communications, Atlanta, as director, government affairs.
Programming
Steven Kent,
senior VP, international production, TriStar International Television, Culver City, Calif., promoted to executive VP.
Adrienne Cleere,
president, Cleere Strategic Alliances Inc., New York, joins PBS, New York, as VP, strategic partnerships.
Laura Rubin, GM, companion sites, USA Interactive Entertainment, New York, named director, corporate communications, USA Networks Inc., New York.
Fred Spring,
managing director, research, Turner Classic Movies, Atlanta, promoted to VP, research, Turner Classic Movies and Turner South.
Macenje Mazoka,
director, youth outreatch, Thirteen/ WNET, New York, adds the duties of project director, national outreach for Cyberchase.
Remi Joyeuse,
regional sales manager, Kinko's, Knoxville, Tenn., joins Scripps Networks, Knoxville, Tenn., as manager, Southeast region affiliate sales.
Sally Jo Fifer,
executive director, Bay Area Video Coalition, San Francisco, joins Independent Television Service, San Francisco, as executive director.
Radio
Coni Sansom,
GM, WKXC-FM Aiken, and WSLT(FM) Clearwater, S.C., promoted to VP/GM.
Shawn Nunn,
director, sales, KHKS(FM) Denton/ KDMX(FM) Dallas, joins KRBV(FM)/KOAI(FM) Fort Worth, Texas, in same capacity.
Appointments at Maine Public Broadcasting, Lewiston, Maine: Mark Austin,
production assistant, Television Services, Bangor, Maine, promoted to marketing and development; M. Bridget Chase,
manager, capital campaign, The Nature Conservancy, Brunswick, Maine, joins as director, capital campaign.
Wayne K. Brown,
VP/regional manager, Charlotte, N.C., Raleigh-Durham, N.C., and Atlanta, Radio One markets, appointed to the Arbitron Radio Advisory Council.
Journalism
Chris Blackman,
VP, news programming, CNBC, Singapore, joins WCAU-TV Philadelphia as assistant news director.
Advertising/Marketing/PR
Promotions at Inter/Media Advertising, Encino, Calif.: Sydney Yallen,
founder, appointed CEO; Robert Yallen,
executive VP, promoted to president.
Appointments at Interep, New York: David Morganlander,
account executive, Unwired Network and Specialized Agency, promoted to VP; Shari Kantor,
account executive, Unwired Network and Specialized Agency, promoted to VP.
Bill Bruce, senior creative director, BBDO New York, promoted to executive VP/ executive creative director.
Nancy Sullivan Bristow,
partner, Luminant Worldwide, New York, appointed senior managing director, Frank N. Magid Associates, New York.
Promotions at BMI Media Relations, New York:John Coletta,
director, business affairs, promoted to senior director; Christine Iglesias,
manager, Internet licensing, promoted to director; Mollie Chaney,
account representative, radio and TV licensing, promoted to manager, Internet licensing.
Appointments at Sullivan Direct: Susan Burke,
director, video products and services, TESS Communications, Denver, joins as senior account executive, Denver office; Penne Heede Pojar,
corporate director, marketing, Fanch Communications, Denver, joins as account executive, Denver office; Tawn Graham,
VP/account supervisor, Digitas, Boston, joins as group account director, Cincinnati office.
Taneshia Nash Laird,
manager, The M&M Group, New York, appointed development director, Nurun Inc., New York.
Ilise Benun,
director, Creative Marketing & Management, Hoboken, N.J., joins Guarino Woodman, New York, as director, marketing.
Obituaries
Imogene Coca,
the tiny saucer-eyed actress—don't call her a comedienne, she wanted to play St. Joan—died in Westport, Conn. She was 92.
Coca came to comedy accidentally, while clowning in the theater during rehearsals of Leonard Sillman's Broadway revue New Faces of 1934.
Producer Max Liebman, who had worked with Coca and Caesar in the Catskills, paired them in The Admiral Broadway Revue
in 1949—which was simultaneously on NBC and Dumont—and again in the groundbreaking Your Show of Shows, for which all three are best-known. The versatile seemingly rubber-faced Coca appeared in satires of movies, including avant-garde foreign films, performed sketch comedy and was part of a regular skit with Caesar, The Hickenloopers.
The show ran from February 1950 to June 1954 and earned Coca a Best Actress Emmy in 1951 and a Peabody Award in 1953.
She and Caesar were reunited in 1958 in Sid Caesar Invites You.
Coca had her own sitcom, Grindl
(1963-64), in which she played a housemaid. In the sitcom It's About Time (1966-67), she played a stone-ager. Coca was also a singer and dancer whose last Broadway appearance, in 1978, was in the musical version of On theTwentieth Century.
She was twice widowed. There are no immediate survivors.
Arlene Francis,
TV panelist par excellence, died May 31. She was 93.
Francis, an actress whose career encompassed movies and Broadway, started in radio, where she was in game shows and hosted an interview program. Her pleasant, bubbly personality and genteel manner led to her landing some of the biggest names, including Frank Sinatra. She appeared on morning TV, hosting NBC's newsmagazine Home (1954-57). She was the first woman to host a game show, Blind Date
(1949-51, ABC; '52, NBC; '53, Dumont). However, she is best-known for What's My Line?, on which she was a gorgeously gowned panelist, appearing in all its iterations from 1950 to 1975.
—Beatrice Williams-Rude
