Tagged: media

Kudos and congrats to Jay Howell, the longtime president/general manager at WPRI/WNAC-TV, who has gotten a promotion to VP for regional television with the stations’ parent company, LIN Media. Also moving up is news diretor Joe Abouzeid, to a new role as president/GM of WDTN-TV and WBDT-TV in Dayton, Ohio.

Howell will remain in Providence, while Abouzeid has already set off for the Buckeye State.

Here’s the word on Howell’s successor, via a news release from Channel 12:

Yours truly will be part of a panel discussion at Rhode Island College tomorrow (11 am, Room 110, Alger Hall) examining the local political impact of talk radio.

The chat, sponsored by RIC’s American Democracy Project, is entitled, “Does talk radio still rule?” The lineup for the panel includes WPRI.com reporter Ted Nesi, WPRO evening host Matt Allen, Josh Fenton from GoLocal, and Tim Staskiewicz from CBS Radio Boston. The moderator is Gene Valicenti from WJAR-TV.

It’s time for the second rendition of my new Friday column. Thanks for reading, and as always, feel free to send me tips or thoughts at idonnis (at) ripr (dot) org.

After a series of buyouts extending to the time before the Dallas-based Belo Corporation bought the Providence Jounal in 1997, layoffs remain possible as the newspaper looks to cut $1.2 million in expenses.

The targeted figure for cuts — the rough equivalent of 16 employees in advertising, circulation, and the newsroom — was identified in a Facebook post by reporter Linda Borg.

Abel Collins, the independent candidate in CD2, plans to deliver a petition with more than 1100 signatures protesting his exclusion this evening from a televised debate on Fox Providence. (UPDATE: I should have noted in my initial post that the debate was set to be taped this morning,)