Monday, January 05, 2009

Tribune Press Release


Don Corsini Named President/General Manager of KTLA-TV

CHICAGO, January 5, 2009 -- Tribune Company today named veteran broadcaster Don Corsini as president/general manager of KTLA-TV, Los Angeles, effective Jan. 1, 2009. Corsini joins the station after six-and-a-half years as president/general manager of both KCBS-TV and KCAL-TV, a period of time distinguished by record revenue and audience growth. Corsini had been the longest-serving general manager in the history of KCBS-TV when he decided in August to leave the station at the end of his contract, which expired Dec. 31, 2008.

"Don has an impeccable reputation in the Los Angeles market as a visionary and a leader who knows how to recruit and manage top talent," said Ed Wilson, president of Tribune Broadcasting and Tribune Company’s chief revenue officer. "His track record in news, programming, production, marketing and sales is without equal. In addition, Don has long-standing relationships with the area’s major sports franchises, and has negotiated broadcast-rights deals with them regularly. Don is the perfect choice to aggressively grow KTLA’s creative environment, audience reach and financial performance."

"KTLA was the first commercial television station in Los Angeles and is deeply connected to our community," said Corsini. "The people and personalities at Channel 5are rich with talent and imagination and I’m delighted to have the opportunity to head up a team in the process of creating a number of exciting new programming initiatives that will soon be in place."

In 1996, Corsini was named general manager at KCAL-TV, having joined the station as vice president/sports, operations and production. In 2002, following CBS’ acquisition of KCAL-TV, he was named president/general manager of both KCAL-TV and KCBS-TV. Under his leadership, the staffs of the two stations were merged into one state-of-the-art facility located at the Studio City Broadcast Center.

Corsini’s career in Los Angeles began in sales at KNXT-TV (now KCBS-TV). He spent 15 years at KABC-TV in senior positions spanning sales, marketing, programming and production and spearheaded ABC television sales in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and San Francisco. Corsini was one of the founding executives of regional sports network Prime Ticket (now Fox Sports), serving as executive vice president/programming and production, handling all aspects of its cable television business and overseeing more than 350 productions annually. He also served as vice president/original programming and development for Liberty Sports.

No comments: