Barry Fulmer, a 23-year veteran at Louisville's Fox affiliate WDBR-TV, will take over WCPO-TV news operation Jan. 18.
Fulmer was named WCPO-TV's senior director of local media content Wednesday. He replaces Mike Canan, who has moved back to Scripps' corporate office as the Scripps Howard Foundation director of journalism strategies.
"Barry is a leader we need. He’s helped launch innovative digital initiatives that positioned WDRB as a multiplatform news leader, building one of the strongest news brands in our region," says Jeff Brogan, WCPO-TV vice president and general manager, in the station announcement Wednesday. Fullmer has "all the attributes we were looking for in a candidate," Brogan tells me.
During Fulmer's 17 years as vice president and news director, Fox 41 has won numerous awards, including the 2021 Regional Edward R. Murrow Award for coverage of the Breonna Taylor protests.
"His accomplishments speak for themselves," says Brogan in the release.
The WDRB website says that Fox 41 "is the largest news team in Kentucky (and) Indianaoffering more than 9.5 hours of weekday newscasts daily, along with live and on demand digital news, weather and sports options on WDRB.com as well as our many app platforms (WDRB NEWS, WDRB WEATHER, WDRB NewsSlide Daily, and WDRB Now for Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire)." WDRB Media, privately owned by Block Communications, operates three network-affiliated TV stations in the Louisville market: WDRB/Fox, WBKI/CW, WFTE/My Network TV.
Canan came to Cincinnati in 2014 from Scripps' Florida newspapers as editor of the ambitious wcpo.com online news operation. He moved to corporate headquarters in downtown Cincinnati as senior director of content strategy in 2018, but returned to the TV station in July 2019 to oversee broadcast and digital news coverage.
"Mike applied and was hired for the position at the Scripps Howard Foundation because he had an interest in the job," Brogan tells me. "He’s the perfect person for that role and did an excellent job leading our team over the last two years."
Canan succeeded Chip Mahaney, Channel 9 news director from 2016 to 2019, who also returned to the corporate office. He's now the "emerging talent leader" on Scripps' Talent Acquisition Team.
