Whitson Out at Newport's Jacksonville Duopoly
WTEV-WAWS Jacksonville
VP/General Manager Jeff Whitson departed the stations last week, confirms
business manager Tim Ford. Ford says no successor has been named, but that the
stations' managers were working on it and should have a new GM in place "very
shortly."
Ford did not offer a reason for Whitson's departure.
High Plains owns CBS outlet WTEV, which manages Newport TV's
Fox affiliate WAWS in the #47 DMA. WAWS features MyNetworkTV programming on its
digital tier. WTEV-WAWS unveiled a joint Action News brand and Website last
spring, and Whitson was aiming to have local HD in time for the February
sweeps.
In November, he told B&C
about seeing "nice increases in ratings across the newscasts" since launching
the new branding.
Broadcasting & Cable Newsletter
The smarter way to stay on top of broadcasting and cable industry. Sign up below
Michael Malone is content director at B+C and Multichannel News. He joined B+C in 2005 and has covered network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television, including writing the "Local News Close-Up" market profiles. He also hosted the podcasts "Busted Pilot" and "Series Business." His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The Boston Globe and New York magazine.