Laura Williamson is stepping down as the President and General Manager of Hearst Television’s cluster of TV stations in Central California, the broadcaster announced on Thursday.
Williamson has led KSBW-TV (Channel 8, NBC & ABC) since 2020 after moving from the company’s Sacramento-area duopoly KCRA (Channel 3, NBC) and KQCA (Channel 58), where she worked as a general sales manager.
“Laura is dedicated and passionate about local television – and California,” Michael J. Hayes, the President of Hearst Television, said in a statement. “Her leadership has helped build on and evolve the remarkable legacy of KSBW.”
Hayes credited Williamson with helping to solidify KSBW’s prominence as the news leader in the Salinas-Monterey market.
Hearst is searching for a successor now. It wasn’t clear from the company’s announcement who will lead the station on an interim basis when she steps down at the end of the year.
During Williamson’s tenure, KSBW received several honors for journalism and community service. The station was named a finalist for the 2026 National Association of Broadcasters Leadership Foundation’s Celebration of Service to America Awards for its “Mobilizing the Central Coast” campaign. It also received a 2026 Business Excellence Award from the Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce.
In 2024, the San Francisco/Northern California Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences honored KSBW with an Emmy Award for “Outstanding Achievement: Newscast-Smaller Markets” for coverage of an atmospheric river that hit the Central Coast. The station also won an Emmy Award for breaking news coverage of a June 2022 Monterey Bay shark attack and received “Best TV Station” honors at the 2023 Monterey Bay Stars Awards.
KSBW’s community service efforts have included the Golden Whistle Award, which honors high school coaches and athletic leaders, annual Community Blood Drives with area healthcare partners and the “Feeding Families Telethon” with regional food banks.
“Serving the Central Coast has been one of the great honors of my career,” Williamson said. “I leave with tremendous pride in what we’ve accomplished together and immense gratitude for the people and communities we’ve had the privilege to serve.”
