Chicago Tribune
Nils Larsen, who has been chairman of Tribune Co.’s broadcast division since October, now takes on duties that previously belonged to Jerry Kersting. He departs as broadcasting president, a position that’s being eliminated. Kersting, who was hired by former Tribune CEO Randy Michaels, pledged last May to “shake up traditional local television news by doing things differently and giving viewers innovative broadcasts and a clear choice in our markets.”
Memo from Tribune CEO Eddy Hartenstein
Colleagues,
Today we are announcing the appointment of Nils Larsen as chief executive officer of Tribune Broadcasting, effective immediately. Nils will be responsible for the strategic vision and day-to-day operations of Tribune’s 23 television stations, its national cable network, WGN America, and WGN Radio.
We are eliminating the position previously held by Jerry Kersting. We thank Jerry for his efforts and contributions during his tenure at the company and at Tribune Broadcasting.
Tribune Broadcasting has great assets in large markets, and the group has gotten off to a solid start in 2011—through April, both revenue and cash flow are up significantly over the same time period last year. The investments we’ve made in expanding local news, developing new programming, and revamping the prime-time line-up of WGN America are delivering results.
There is a lot more opportunity ahead—this fall we will launch the “Bill Cunningham Show” across our station group and add “30 Rock,” “Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and “Futurama” to the WGN America programming line-up.
We have extremely talented people in our broadcasting group and Nils is the right person to lead them. He has served as chairman of Tribune Broadcasting since last October and, as it says in the attached press release, Nils is “…thoughtful, creative, and has the vision necessary to maximize the effectiveness of the group.”
Thanks in advance for giving him your full support.
eddy
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