Jim McKernan joins KWWL as VP & General Manager

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Dubuque native returns to station where he got his start

Jim McKernan has been appointed as Vice President and General Manager of KWWL, assuming the position on February 27th.

Jim brings over 25 years of management experience to the station, having presided over both radio and television stations in the mid-Atlantic and Midwest states.

“Jim has a proven record of leadership, community involvement, success in news, and
a very strong sales background.” said Jerry Watson, Regional Vice-President for Quincy, Inc., owners of KWWL. “Jim has been described as a culture and team builder, as well as a motivator with strong Midwest sensibilities. Oh and my favorite…. a good sense of humor.”

A Dubuque native, Jim’s first job in television came at KWWL, where he served as an
Account Executive. An Air Force veteran, Jim has also earned recognitions from the both the American Red Cross and the Arthritis Foundation for his volunteerism and fundraising efforts. He and his wife, Amy, have four grown children.

“I’m delighted to join the terrific staff of broadcasters of KWWL and Quincy.” said
McKernan. “KWWL has a rich tradition of serving the communities of Eastern Iowa by delivering the facts of important news stories with an objectivity and balance befitting a top notch news organization. The station’s history makes it a jewel among television stations in the United States. As a native of Northeast Iowa, I am pleased to be coming home.”

New Jersey Herald enters a new era

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The New Jersey Herald will end a long tradition on April 2 when its printing operations will be moved to North Jersey Media Group’s facilities in Rockaway. North Jersey Media, owner of the Bergen Record, also prints USA Today, the Gannett Westchester-Rockland newspapers, and a variety of weekly newspapers in the region.

Herald Publisher Jack Findley said the economics of running and maintaining the Herald’s aging presses, and the efficiencies gained by running on state-of-the-art presses in Rockaway, made continuing to print at the Herald’s Newton plant unfeasible.

Consolidation of newspaper printing has been under way for several years across the nation as publishers take advantage of centralized facilities and the economies they offer.

“Our printing will be done at a modern facility that will consume less newsprint and less ink than our older presses,” Findley said. “We will serve our advertisers better with superior color reproduction, which we will now have available on every page in the newspaper. These presses will run much faster, giving our subscribers better delivery, as well.”

“The difficult part is having to lay off dedicated employees,” he said, “especially in this economy.”

The move will eliminate six full-time and 20 part-time positions in the pressroom and the mailroom. The part-time positions range from four hours per week to 28 hours per week.

Findley said that all impacted personnel will be offered a severance package regardless of tenure, based upon their years of service to the company. Employees were informed of the change on Tuesday night.

This change will have little impact on the content of the Herald. Bruce Tomlinson, editor and general manager, said the Herald newsroom will continue to post late-breaking and updated news on the newspaper’s new website, www.njherald.com. This new site was launched at the end of November and now attracts more than 200,000 unique visitors per month.

Newspaper pages will continue to be created in the Herald’s production department in Newton, and will be sent electronically to North Jersey Media’s plant where the image will be converted to printing plates. The entire press run of the Herald, up to 19,000 for the Sunday newspaper, can be printed in only 30 minutes on the high-speed presses.

The New Jersey Herald’s offices at 2 Spring St. in Newton will continue to host its editorial, advertising, marketing, circulation, human resources and production departments as well serve as the distribution center for the Herald’s subscribers and more than 300 single-copy outlets.

Welcome WAOW Quintern Owen Stevens

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Please welcome our first Quintern ~ Owen Stevens.  Owen started on February 8th in      the news department and will be helping out in sports.   Owen is a junior at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point majoring in Communication.

Tell us a little about yourself:   I‘m a junior at UWSP.  I worked at a movie theatre for the last five years.  I was born in Attleboro Massachusetts.
Favorite part about the city in which you live: My favorite part about Stevens Point is the college campus feel of the town.
What is the last book you read, what did you think about it: Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick – It’s a cool commentary on celebrity culture in America.
Any vacation plans this year: Hopefully I will get out to the East Coast.  It’s been a few years since I’ve gotten out there.
Any interesting talents or hobbies: Nothing too interesting.  I love movies and have over 200 DVD’s.
What are you most looking forward to in 2012: I am looking forward to getting another year closer to graduating.
If you could have any super power what would it be and why: It’s not really a
super power, but I’d love to have the ability to read something once and remember it permanently.  I guess that’s a photographic memory.

Adding to the WXOW Daybreak team

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Lindsey Hayes is now co-anchoring Daybreak with Amy DuPont and Alex Kirchner.  Daybreak is now two hours long and Lindsey’s enthusiasm and energy compliments the experience and knowledge Amy DuPont provides our viewers in the morning.  Kacey Persson and Alex Kirchner complete our Daybreak crew and Kudos to the entire team for taking Daybreak to a new level.

Alex Kirchner & Amy DuPont - Daybreak Crew

More Quinterns have arrived

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Molly Grosskreutz is currently a Junior at Viterbo University in La Crosse, and the first Quintern here at WXOW.  She is a liberal studies major with coursework in English Writing, Communications and Theater.  Her ultimate goal is to be a screenwriter for television shows.  Molly spent this past summer as an intern at Sony Pictures
Entertainment in Los Angeles, where she learned a lot about film production industry.

Having completed her first month at WXOW so far, Molly has enjoyed observing station operations and has been given numerous opportunities to apply her video editing, graphic design and writing skills, skills that she looks forward to honing in the coming months.

She is thrilled to be a member of the Hometown Team.

There’s a new face running the interactive department at WREX!

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Samantha Jeffreys was promoted to internet director from her position as sales gatekeeper at WREX. Samantha is a Rockford native, who has been with the station for more than a year. She has always wanted to cross over into news, so the internet director position is a perfect combination of her past experiences and future goals.

Samantha is taking over for Mike Costello, who was promoted to assistant news director at WREX after serving more than three years as the internet director.

Samantha’s first official day on the new job was February 13, 2012.

FOX28.com re-launches with new features, workflow improvements

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Check out the new FOX28.com, Quincy’s newest website design. WSJV Internet Director Adam Ziegler and his web committee wanted to update their site with a design that’s clean, bold and easy to navigate. They also wanted to capitalize on the popularity of their network’s prime time lineup and do it with a bit of “FOX attitude.” The new site is a dramatic upgrade from the earlier design and we think our customers will like it.

The new FOX28.com is one of the first sites on the Worldnow platform to implement a navigation technique that includes both section titles and the top stories from featured sections. We think customers who hover over the news tab might be more inclined to go there now because they can actually see some of the top story headlines and summaries from that page. The same goes for pages devoted to the FOX28 morning newscast, sports and video.

The cool thing about website design is that we’re never done. Our sites need to reflect changing customer interests and improving technology. Internet Directors across our group understand that constant evolution is the name of the game. It’s true on all of our interactive platforms.  If you get excited about constant learning, creating and growing, Quincy is a great place to work.