While it used to be the sole domain of sales managers or possibly news directors, there is a trend for TV station general managers and upper TV broadcast group management to come from creative services. If it seems you have that heard that before, that’s because it was the opening sentence in a Market Share […]
While it used to be the sole domain of sales managers or possibly news directors, there is a trend for TV station general managers and upper TV broadcast group management to come from creative services.
If it seems you have that heard that before, that’s because it was the opening sentence in a Market Share article entitled Creative Services Growing Next-Gen GMs from June 2015.
In that article, I point out that Valari Dobson Staab, president of the NBC Owned TV stations, and Emily Barr, president of Graham Media, came from creative services. And that two of eight general managers at the ABC Owned group are former creative services directors.
What makes creative services directors ideal candidates to be general managers?
According to several current general managers interviewed for the article who were once creative services directors, it’s the fact that the creative services director touches all departments — sales, news, engineering, traffic, production, you name it — and that CSDs are consensus builders with the skill set to handle community relations, creativity, brand management, sales commercials, and negotiations.
And as further proof, I point to the announcement by KVUE, Tegna’s ABC affiliate in Austin, Texas, which named Kristie Gonzalez as that station’s new general manager.
Gonzalez was the promotion and digital brand manager at WABC in New York and has held creative services management positions at other ABC-owned stations like WTVD and KSFN.
“Kristie is a rising star in this industry and we are thrilled she is joining TEGNA and leading KVUE,” said David Lougee, Tegna’s president.
“Kristie is a forward-thinking leader with experience creating strategic campaigns to grow audiences across platforms, specifically in culturally diverse markets, which will be invaluable to KVUE, the Austin community and TEGNA Media.”
Gonzales will replace Patti Smith, who is retiring at the end of June.
Gonzales is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and a board member of Vision for Equality, a nonprofit that advocates for people with disabilities. She was nominated in 2013 to represent ABC Owned Television Stations on a Disney ABC Television Group Hispanic Task Force. In May of this year, she was honored with the Latino Trendsetter Award.
Want to know more about Kristi Gonzales? Click here to read a Q&A with her from January of this year.
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