Hearst TV Names Michael Saffell Regional Engineering Director

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Saffell had been director of engineering for WMUR-TV, Manchester, N.H.

Michael Saffell Hearst TV
Michael Saffell (Image credit: Hearst Television)

Hearst Television said it promoted Michael Saffell to regional director of engineering.

Saffell has been director of engineering for Hearst TV’s WMUR-TV in Manchester, N.H., since 2015.

In his new post Saffell will share engineering oversight across the station group with Greg Turner, who is also regional director of engineering. Saffell succeeds Joe Balkan, who is retiring after 24 years with Hearst TV and nearly 50 years in the broadcast industry.

“Michael is a versatile broadcast TV industry veteran with valuable experience spanning production to distribution,” said Stefan Hadl, Hearst Television senior VP of engineering. “He’s been instrumental in managing the technology at one of our company’s most high-profile stations and he’s the right person to succeed Joe in this important position.”

Before joining Hearst as assistant director of engineering at WMUR in 2014, Saffell was director of technology for New Hampshire Public Radio. He began his TV career as a teenager acting as chief engineer for a 5-megawatt station in suburban New York. ■

Jon Lafayette
Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.