KTHV | Just-hired news anchor killed in car crash

Turner

Matt Turner joined the CBS affiliate in Little Rock only last month, the station said, in announcing his Saturday night death after a crash in Benton, southwest of the city. He was 32.

State police said his vehicle ran off Interstate 30 and hit a highway sign, according to the station.

KTHV | Media General's Caplan appointed GM

From a statement Corporate issued today: 

The Broadcasting Division has named Michael Caplan president and general manager at KTHV in Little Rock.

Caplan most recently served as group leader for Media General's multimedia operations in Myrtle Beach/Florence, S.C. In that role, he oversaw multiple operating units, including TV, print and web properties.

Caplan succeeds Larry Audas, who in April was named president and general manager of Gannett's WFMY in Greensboro, N.C.

KTHV general manager Audas moves to WFMY

Corporate just announced in that Larry Audas is moving to president and general manager of WFMY, the CBS affiliate in Greensboro-High Point, N.C. Audas, who led KTHV in Little Rock since 2002, replaces Deborah Hooper, who in early January was named president of the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce. KTHV also is a CBS affiliate.

The statement does not say who's replacing Audas in Little Rock.

Broadcasting in new deal to revamp 10 websites

Corporate has just announced a deal with DataSphere Technologies to launch "community-focused" websites that will be integrated within existing sites now run by Gannett TV stations in 10 U.S. markets, including Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

The new sites will feature "hyperlocal news content and include user-generated content about area happenings and events,'' according to Corporate's statement. "Local businesses will benefit from the opportunity to target their potential customers. In addition to powering the community websites, DataSphere will provide existing Gannett broadcasting websites with enhanced functionality, including market-leading site search, coupons, business directory and ad targeting."

Corporate's statement doe not detail the type of editorial and non-editorial content to be added, however, and it doesn't give a timetable for the changes. The statement also raises other questions: Will the new template for the U.S. newspaper sites -- code-named Project Odyssey, and expected to be launched soon -- also be applied to the broadcasting division's sites? If so, how does the DataSphere deal impact that new template?

In addition to Atlanta and D.C., the other markets are Tampa, Fla.,; Sacramento, Calif.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Buffalo, N.Y.; Little Rock, Ark.; Portland, Maine, and Macon, Ga.

WUSA-TV extends record -- for highest turnover!

Gannett's flagship TV station abruptly appointed yet another news director last week -- the latest in a string of six general managers and eight news directors since 1996 at the CBS affiliate, a reader tells me. "I suspect that is the national record,'' the reader says.

In a memo on Thursday, General Manager Allan Horlick told staff: "It is with great pleasure that I would like to announce that Lane Michaelsen has joined WUSA-TV as vice president/Information Center. Lane’s journalistic credentials and successful career track record speak for themselves, and I know you will all join me in welcoming Lane to his new position."

In fact, Michaelsen's credentials don't speak for themselves, given his predecessor's mysterious exit, my reader says: "Big questions surround the overnight departure of Mike Ward last Monday. Ward reportedly quarreled with General Manager Allan Horlick over a restructuring of the newsroom that included the firing of an anchor as well as other changes."

My reader's note continues: "Lane has served as a Gannett news director in the past. Credited with improving ratings at both Little Rock and Tampa. Though in both cases cutbacks at other stations as well as new and successful syndicated shows (one that replaced a newscast in Tampa) must be taken into account. Most recently, it was Michaelson who traveled the country instructing newspaper reporters in the art of videography. He is a proponent of 'one-man-band' journalism, where one person does it all.

"Since almost every move at WUSA and every manager at WUSA has been continually second-guessed by those in McLean, Va., it makes sense that the second-guessers are now running the place. Michaelson insisted the decision to take the quickly vacated WUSA job was his alone. Most guess it was part of a corporate downsize and that Ward was the odd man out."

D.C., Tampa, Little Rock staffers: What more do you know? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.

[Image: recent screenshot of WUSA's homepage]

Documents: GCI eliminating 275 finance jobs; Asheville, WUSA-TV among first 11 taking hit

The company will eliminate the accounting and other jobs as part of the previously disclosed creation of two national shared service centers in Springfield, Mo., and Indianapolis, according to internal documents I've just obtained.

The documents were provided by a Gannett Blog reader who requested anonymity. They describe in detail the timetable and scale of the plan to consolidate finance work at newspapers and TV stations in a bid to cut costs as Gannett wrestles with declining revenue and profits. Previously published reports gave only a broad outline of the project.

The plan calls for a combined 11 papers and TV stations to be used as pilot sites starting last month, the documents show, with completion of the entire project expected by March 2009. About 55 jobs will be created at each of the two new centers -- for a net job loss of 167 positions, the documents show. Gannett now employs about 46,000 in the U.S. and the United Kingdom.

"The termination dates for employees losing their positions are determined by the implementation timetable,'' one of the documents shows. "As a site begins migrating their activities to the national shared service centers, employees begin losing their positions.''

The documents say the first 11 pilot sites are the papers at Asheville, N.C.; Greenville, S.C.; Springfield, Mo.; Mountain Home, Ark.; Jackson, Miss., and Hattiesburg, Miss. The TV stations are WGRZ in Buffalo, N.Y.; WUSA in Washington, D.C.; WTSP in Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla.; WBIR in Knoxville, Tenn., and KTHV in Little Rock.

In sharing the documents, my reader says: "This is top secret. You have to protect my identity! So many people are frustrated because Gannett is keeping this such a secret. People just want an idea of when this transition is going to happen at their units. These people are not stupid -- they know there's a schedule out there somewhere, so why not share it -- even if it's tentative. So, here it is. I'm not sure if Gannett is on schedule or not. Do with it as you feel is appropriate."

All readers: Can you provide confirmation -- and further details? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.

[Image: yesterday's Asheville Citizen-Times, Newseum]