MediaMaven

Former KOMO News Anchor Mary Nam has been named to the Washington State University Board of Regents by Gov. Ferguson.    It's the governing body that oversees the WSU System.   Mary left the station just  three months ago after more than two decades.    She's a proud alum. 

Too many people on ESPN's NBA Tipoff Monday.  Large men on itty bitty ugly chairs. As ZZTop might sing 'They've got LEGS!    We don't want to see them." They all get 12 seconds to talk.   Lol.

T ery Garras has been named Vice President/General Manager of KXLY Brands, which include KXLY 4 News Now (ABC), KAYU Fox 28, as well as seven radio stations and digitial, consolidating the management structure. More from InsideR adio: Morgan Murphy Media is expanding the scope of its KXLY Brands operation, bringing Fox affiliate KAYU-TV into a unified structure that already includes ABC affiliate KXLY-TV, seven radio stations and digital marketing agency Phase 3 Digital. The company announced that Tery Garras has been promoted to Vice President and General Manager of the consolidated operation, succeeding longtime KXLY Vice President and GM Teddie Gibbon, who is retiring after 44 years with the station. The restructuring creates a single management team overseeing television, radio and digital assets serving Spokane, Coeur d’Alene and the broader Inland Northwest. Company executives said the move will allow advertisers to execute integrated campaigns across multiple platforms through a...

KING5 Morning Traffic Anchor Shante Sumpter turned up Monday from home to let everyone know her new baby boy is doing well but said she has no firm timetable for returning to the newscast.    The station has been using several staffers to fill in during her maternity leave.  World Cup traffic will be a major challenge for one and all starting real soon!!   Fox 13's Adam Gehrke should have the experience edge in the market. https://x.com/i/status/2063982924295524714

Teased three old stories, one by Whitaker, one by Stahl, one by the departed Cooper.  The anchor intro included everyone: Pelley, Copper, Alfonsi, Vega.  All rights reserved.  Nothing to see here.  But I wonder what kind of lead-in it was for the Tony Award on CBS?  Curiosity tune-in?   I turned it off after peeking at the opening sequence. There's a long interview with Pelley at the NYTimes.  FYI

I want to salute the man in the tux from this celebratory photo taken in 2010, if memory serves. The industry lost Dick Splitstone nine years ago this month.   He was my talented, loyal executive producer and dear friend at NWCN, running the day-to-day and teaching our young staff professionalism.   He also had many work colleagues at KIRO and NATAS NW.  He is missed very much. Dick was kind enough to honor me in retirement, arranging some great farewell photos of the staff. (Below) Thank you, Richard Also, I want acknowledge that the lady in the first photo is Emily Cantrell, former NWCN and KOMO leader, now president of Seafair. 

I went looking on the cable program grid Saturday for evening network news, but none of the local stations elected to take earlier feeds of WNT, NNN or CBS EN.     There were network sports events at 7, 730 & 8 in the East, presumably with the usual network news in normal time slots.  Here, KOMO did Sinclair's 'Full Measure' at 330 and local news at 4. KIRO ran paid at 330 and local news at 4. KING ran paid at 330.   And after Golf, it ran five straight paid shows.  First local news aired at 10 on KONG, 11 on K5 after Dateline.   This happens a lot during college football Saturdays, but was surprised today that there were no opportunities.