Tegna

It’s been tough for the city of Buffalo, N.Y. First, a city used to snow gets a crippling blizzard. Then, a member of the Buffalo Bills football team is carted off the field, and the game is canceled. “These were difficult stories, so we wanted to keep the tone optimistic, positive, a bit uplifting and community-centric,” says Dan Meyers, the marketing director at WGRZ.

Community grants in the greater Indianapolis region are aimed at alleviating community concerns including health and education support, food insecurity and programs for at-risk youth.

KARE Minneapolis grew its 10 p.m. newscast viewership 25% year-to-year in November. “It was pretty unusual to watch the 10 o’clock news double, triple and quadruple share from the lead in night after night,” says Bill Dallman, KARE’s GM.

Ben Bates has been promoted to marketing director at WWL, Tegna’s CBS affiliate in New Orleans. Prior to WWL, Bates worked in creative services and marketing at stations in Denver, Albuquerque, N.M., and Tegna’s WXIA in Atlanta.

Brad Panovich, WCNC Charlotte’s chief meteorologist, has had a passion for weather since he was 6 years old. The station found the perfect actor to play Brad as a youngster in a new promo — Panovich’s son Kyler.

Chris Franklin, the marketing director for ABC affiliate WATN in Memphis, checks in with his thoughts on what qualities he looks for in good marketers and his system to encourage growth and teamwork.

The community grants help address a range of community issues, including mental health support, vaccine and health screening access, cultural preservation and the importance of growing local foods.

At the Promax Station Summit this week in Las Vegas, Warner Bros., which is distributing The Jennifer Hudson Show, wowed an audience of local TV creative services and marketing directors with a presentation that included an appearance by the newest EGOT winner herself.

WJXX and WTLV, Tegna’s ABC and NBC affiliates in Jacksonville, Fla., ran a two-week on-air campaign promising viewers that something big was coming. What was coming was four years and $1 million in the making, and it was going to be revealed live during the evening news.

Sabrina Ahmed, news anchor for WOI in Des Moines, Iowa, is the mother of twins, Beau and Bella, who just turned 2 years old. To celebrate the end of her twins needing diapers, WOI held Beau & Bella’s Birthday Diaper Drive that ended Monday, Feb. 7.