Local television broadcaster TEGNA has hired a long-time CNN executive to serve as its new Vice President of Content, The Desk has confirmed.
Javi Morgado disclosed his new role on social media just hours after Nexstar Media Group announced plans to acquire TEGNA in a deal that could close within the next year, pending regulatory approval.
“I am truly grateful to our CEO Mike Steib and Adrienne Roark for tapping me to join their leadership team,” Morgado said in a statement. “I am overjoyed to partner with my fellow VPs Carol Fowler, Julie Wolfe, Chris Peña and Michael Valentine to shape the future of local news.”
Morgado most recently served as executive producer of CNN’s “At This Hour.” Prior to that, he was the executive producer of “New Day,” CNN’s flagship morning program that was canceled three years ago.
He joined CNN in December 2011 following a brief stint as Vice President of Business Development and Communications for Latina magazine. Before that, Morgado spent over a decade at Comcast’s NBC Universal, where he eventually became a supervising producer for the Today Show.
A graduate of the University of Miami, Morgado began his television career in December 1995 as an associate producer at WPLG (Channel 10) in Miami, the Berkshire Hathaway-owned independent station that recently dropped its ABC affiliation. He later worked as an assignment editor for WTVJ (Channel 6), the NBC-owned station in Miami.
Morgado’s appointment comes as TEGNA prepares for a significant corporate transition. Nexstar’s acquisition, if approved, would add to its portfolio of more than 200 television stations and make it the largest local broadcaster in the United States.
