The E. W. Scripps Company has elevated one of its news president to oversee a larger collection of its local television stations in western states.
This week, Anita Helt announced her promotion to the role of Vice President of Local News across the western half of the country where Scripps owns local TV stations, including Arizona, Texas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Utah.
“After more than 15 years with ABC15 Arizona, this transition is definitely bittersweet,” Helt wrote in a post on LinkedIn, referring to local TV station KNXV by its on-air branding. “I love this station, this team and this community that I will still call home.”
Helt said she was pleased to welcome John Cook as the company’s new Regional General Manager for its local TV stations in Phoenix, Tucson, Corpus Christi and Waco.
“There is no one I would trust more to lead a team that means so much to me,” Helt said.
Helt will continue to oversee some aspects pf KNXV (Channel 15, ABC) in Phoenix while also adding additional stations to her oversight. The list of stations under Helt’s purview is quite long:
- KAJA (Channel 68) in Corpus Christi
- KASW (Channel 61) in Phoenix
- KBZK (Channel 7, CBS) in Bozeman
- KCDO (Channel 3) in Denver
- KERO (Channel 23, ABC) in Bakersfield
- KGTV (Channel 10, ABC) in San Diego
- KGUN (Channel 9, ABC) in Tucson
- KIVI (Channel 6, ABC) in Boise
- KJCT (Channel 8, ABC) in Grand Junction
- KKCO (Channel 11, NBC) in Grand Junction
- KKTV (Channel 11, CBS) in Colorado Springs
- KMGH (Channel 7, ABC) in Denver
- KMVT (Channel 11, CBS) in Twin Falls
- KNXV (Channel 15, ABC) in Phoenix
- KOAA (Channel 5, NBC) in Colorado Springs
- KPAX (Channel 8, CBS) in Missoula
- KRHD (Channel 40, ABC) in College Station
- KRIS (Channel 6, NBC) in Corpus Christi
- KRTV (Channel 3, CBS) in Great Falls
- KSAW (Channel 51, ABC) in Twin Falls
- KSBY (Channel 6, NBC) in San Luis Obispo
- KSTU (Channel 13, Fox) in Salt Lake City
- KTVH (Channel 12, NBC) in Helena
- KTVQ (Channel 2, CBS) in Billings
- KUPX (Channel 16, Ion) in Salt Lake City
- KWBA (Channel 58) in Tucson
- KXLH (Channel 9, CBS) in Helena
- KXLF (Channel 4, CBS) in Butte
- KXXV (Channel 25, ABC) in Waco, Texas
Before her current Scripps tenure, Helt served as President and General Manager of KXTV-TV (Channel 10, ABC) in Sacramento from 2010 to 2011. She previously served as Vice President of Marketing and Programming at KPNX-TV (Channel 12, NBC) in Phoenix.
Her appointment as VP of Local Media comes about two weeks after Scripps announced a plan to regroup its local TV stations operations across nearly a dozen regional territories and incorporate a new leadership model accordingly.
The restructuring of its local TV operations comes as Scripps has worked to implement changes across its local TV station footprint, including a stronger reliance on artificial intelligence in its operations. In some markets, Scripps has also evolved its local TV news broadcasts to depend more on pre-recorded packages from reporters and weather forecasters, and has dropped the traditional anchor-driven format, with mixed results.
