Media Frenzy

By Rob Holbert Managing Editor

Familiar face returns

WKRG viewers will soon see a familiar face return to the local airwaves. Former anchor Devon Walsh is returning to the CBS affiliate as the morning host, replacing outgoing Jennifer Abney and Bill Riales.

WKRG News Director Dan Cates announced the move to the staff Sept. 11, officially making true what had been rumored for the past several weeks. Walsh, her husband and infant son moved back to the Mobile area earlier this year, sparking industry talk that she might soon join one of the local stations. She had been an anchor at WBRC in Birmingham for the past several years.

Walsh will be taking over as the morning’s sole anchor, although she said reporters Kesshia Peyton and Chad Petri will have prominent roles. She said all of the details have not yet been worked out.

“It’s so exciting to be back home,” Walsh said. “Hopefully I’ll turn old and grey at WKRG.”

Walsh said the schedule will tentatively be that she hosts the show from 5-7 a.m., then picks it back up for a final hour from 9-10 a.m., Monday through Friday. The format will be new for the station, as it has previously had a two-anchor format. Recently management decided not to renew Riales’ and Abney’s contracts, citing a desire to change directions.

Walsh started her career at WKRG and quickly moved into the nighttime anchor’s chair next to WKRG institution Mel Showers. She also had been a nighttime anchor at WBRC, so the switch to mornings is a big change. Now instead of going to bed at midnight, she’ll be rising at 2:45 a.m.

“This is new. It’s going to take a lot of coffee and concealer,” Walsh joked. “Actually, I think I’ve got the personality for mornings. I’m always happy and it’s a looser format.”

She and her husband have a 7-month-old son, and Walsh said her new schedule may actually be conducive to raising a young child. As for her return to WKRG, she says it just seems right.

“I’ve always loved WKRG. I liked my station in Birmingham, but I’ve always thought of WKRG as home. Being in a bigger market was good for me, but I’m glad to be home,” she said.

Her first day at the station is Sept. 29, although it’s not certain when she’ll go on the air.

Lagniappe growth

Astute readers may have notice a change on the front cover of this fine rag. Instead of listing our circulation as 20,000, it’s now listed as 22,000. That’s not a typo, believe it or not.

Not only are we bumping the circulation up to 22,000 for this issue, we’ll also add another 1,000 to the total each month through the end of the year until we land at a cool 25,000. For the mathematically declined, that’s a 25 percent increase in circulation.

While this move comes at a time when a lot of print media outlets are losing circulation and cutting staff, we have been fortunate enough to continue seeing our readership and advertising grow each month. We like to think it’s our exciting way of covering local events in an informative-yet-irreverent manner that’s helped us grow. The trend across the country suggests newspapers that have stuck to offering local content are still doing well, and that’s always been our goal – exciting local coverage.

At any rate, there will now be more Lagniappes out there with which to line your bird cages. We’ll be focusing much of the increased circulation in areas that are growing rapidly, such as extreme WeMo and the Eastern Shore. If you have a business that would like to become a distribution point, or know of someplace you think we’d do well in, drop me a line at rholbert@lagniappemobile.com, and we’ll have one of our delightful delivery folks swing by with a stack for you.

New WPMI GM

Newport Television executives decided to look inward when selecting a new general manager for WPMI, selecting Shea Grandquest, who has been serving as the station’s director of sales.

Grandquest takes the place of Bob Franklin, who was fired last month in a move insiders say was related to personal issues with an employee.

In a press release from WPMI, Sandi DiPasquale, president and CEO of Newport Television welcomed Grandquest as GM. He lauded Grandquest’s work history, as well as his familiarity with the Mobile market.

“Having grown up in Mobile, Shea has a key understanding of the dynamics that make up the Mobile-Pensacola television market. As a result he knows the issues that are important to our viewers and advertisers. Shea is very excited about leading our Mobile stations and, as I do, he sees many opportunities for growth in this wonderful market,” DiPasquale wrote.

Grandquest is a graduate of Spring Hill College. He has also held sales management positions in New Orleans, Nashville and Orlando. His appointment as GM comes at a time when the NBC affiliate seems to be making some headway in getting back in the ratings race. The station has suffered from some high-profile firings – most notably the dismissal of its three main nighttime anchors at one time. WPMI also had to weather an odd situation in which one of its reporters’ roommates was convicted of sending threatening letters to the station.

Attempts to interview Grandquest for this story were unsuccessful.

WKRG Murrows again

Looks like WKRG TV-5 has garnered a few more Edward R. Murrow Awards. This time the CBS affiliate picked up awards for Best Broadcast-Affiliated Web site. Reporter Tiffany Craig and Photographer Arnell Hamilton won for Best Spot News Coverage for a story about a murder and tongue cutting in Citronelle. The hour-long documentary “Mobile’s Makeover” won for Best Continuing Coverage. Craig, photographer Jud Hulon and producer Jennifer Dale were honored for that piece.

Rob Holbert is Lagniappe managing editor. Contact him at rholbert@lagniappemobile.com.

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