UPDATE WEDNESDAY SEPT. 10: WKRC-TV news director Tim Geraghty says he’s heading to St. Louis to become news director at KSDK-TV on Sept. 29.
“I am honored to be able to lead another great legacy station and team,” he says. Geraghty announced Sept. 3 that he was leaving Channel 12, owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group. His last day is Tuesday Sept. 16.
ORIGINAL POST WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 3: By his count, WKRC-TV news director Tim Geraghty lost more than 500 years of television news experience during his tenure running the Local 12 newsroom.
Now Geraghty is leaving the Sinclair Broadcast Group station after 10 years. His last day will be Sept. 16, said Franco Gentile, vice president and general manager.
It was a tough decision to leave, Geraghty said.
“I work with a great group of people who happen to be strong journalists too! We have done a lot of great work during my decade here,” he said.
Currently he is the longest-tenured TV news director in Cincinnati’s four TV newsrooms.
Hired in August 2015 from Orlando, Geraghty managed the staff transition during the departures of Channel 12 anchors Rob Braun, Cammy Dierking, John Lomax, and Brad Johansen, and the retirement of veteran reporters Deb Dixon, Larry Davis, Jeff Hirsh, and Joe Webb.
“Over the past five years, we have lost more than 500 years of television news experience, most of that to retirement. Despite that, we remain at or near the top of TV and digital ratings,” says Geraghty’s LinkedIn profile. “We research our customers regularly and use that information to fine tune our strategy. We constantly produce enterprise, relevant, accountability-based content.”
Geraghty says Local 12 had “a great core of people who were here when I got here. I have been fortunate enough to add journalists who helped make us better in key areas. We also keep evolving over time to change our strategy as news consumers’ habits did.”
Gentile announced Geraghty’s departure to the staff Tuesday. “Tim will be able to share soon where the next chapter of his career will take him,” he said.
“We are grateful for his 10 years of service, leadership, and professionalism, which have made a lasting impact on our station. We wish him success in his next chapter,” he said.
Geraghty told me he will announce his plans “in a few days to a week."
The 1998 University of Missouri graduate was hired Aug. 14, 2015, to replace news director Kirk Varner, who resigned in July.
Geraghty previously had been senior director for news at Central Florida News 13, a 24-hour news operation covering seven counties. He also worked as a TV news director in Miami, Sacramento, and Grand Rapids, and produced newscasts for stations in Kansas City; Kalamazoo, Mich.; and Decatur, Ill.
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