Micki Byrnes Named President And General Manager Of WKYC

Micki Byrnes

“I am pleased to announce that Micki Byrnes has been named President and General Manager of WKYC-Cleveland,” announced Dave Lougee, president of Broadcasting for Gannett Co. Inc. “Micki is the perfect leader for our Cleveland operation. She is a natural leader who knows all facets of our business, and she has a passion for everyone at the station, and for that matter, everyone in Northeast Ohio.”

Brooke Spectorsky will continue in his role as a Senior Vice President for Gannett Broadcasting managing all syndicated programming efforts for the combined Gannett/Belo television group. Spectorsky also oversees three additional Gannett television station markets.

Byrnes joined Gannett Broadcasting in October of 1997 as Director of Marketing and Promotion for WKYC, NBC in Cleveland, Ohio. She was named Vice President, Advertising and Promotion in 2000, responsible for the branding, graphics, media creation and placement, community engagement and sales promotion efforts of Channel 3. In March of 2014, she was named VP and Station Manager, overseeing the daily operations of the station.

“It will be an exciting and challenging role, one that I’ve spent the last 17 years building towards,” said Byrnes. “Northeast Ohio is a dynamic television market and I plan to keep WKYC in the forefront of winning news coverage with a strong brand tied to our growth as a region, and world class customer service.”

Prior to joining Gannett, Byrnes worked as Corporate Marketing Director for First Media based in Orlando, FL and has had promotion management positions in San Francisco, Atlanta and Boston.

She is a past Chair and Director of PROMAX, International, the industry's premiere marketing and promotion association. Byrnes has also served on the promotion advisory boards of CBS Television, ABC Television and Fox Broadcasting and is the past Chairperson of the NBC Affiliate Promotion Committee. Micki was a member of the 2005 class of Leadership Cleveland, and also served as a Board member of the Cleveland Hearing and Speech Center. She helped create the US Marshal of Northern Ohio’s Posse for Community Outreach, and was a member of the FBI Citizen’s Academy class of 2012. She currently serves as a Trustee of the Cleveland Food Bank and is a Board Member of Cuyahoga Community College Foundation and the FBI Citizen’s Academy Foundation.

WKYC 'Adopts' A Family This Holiday Season

Special to the Director's Cut Blog

By Jeff Reidel

CLEVELAND - Now is the season of giving and family.

But some are struggling to enjoy a holidays. One woman is working to meet that need head on, after facing her own hardship. Now, area children will experience a brighter holiday.

WKYC employees are helping spread holiday joy. The station is working with the Adopt a Family Association, a non-profit that matches companies that want to reach out to local families facing tough times.

"Either they are working a low income job, they are disabled or recently laid off and there fore they can not provide for their family due to the expense" said Madeline Medley, Executive Director of the Adopt a Family Association.

Back when she worked at a local bank, Medley took it upon herself to to get fellow employees to adopt needy families during the holidays.

But when she lost her job, she made giving back her full-time job.

"My focus was to help the children. It was my great passion to go ahead and make it a non-profit and make it my own" said Medley.

The giving spirit continues to grow.

Petitti Garden Center donated and delivered Christmas trees to the families WKYC adopted.

"It means a lot because I've been quit ill for the past couple of years. And this year I was not able to get a Christmas tree. So now I will have a Christmas tree in my home and it just makes me very happy. And it's going to make my daughter happy when she gets home too" said Kanika Nunn.

"This is going to help out a lot for the holidays helping out with the family. Having a safe warm holiday" said Larry Dixon.

The need isn't just during the holiday season, and that's why Adopt a Family also has a family needs program.

"Which helps families that are transitioning from a shelter environment and needs help with house hold items, furniture and beds for the children" said Medley.

Medley is truly living her passion by giving back.

"That is my blessing. That is my Christmas" said Medley.

The Adopt a Family Christmas program has grown from supporting 70 families to over 200 families this year.

And it's not to late to help.

You can donate to the organization online at www.adoptafamilynow.org

WKYC News & Notes: 12/15/14

By Frank Macek

It's time for another "behind the scenes" look at what's happening inside the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center.

WKYC's new Sony ELC Production System

Tomorrow night, December 16th, Channel 3 will launch our brand new Sony ELC Live Assist Production System that will be a new way we bring you Channel 3 News.

The system is an all computerized one and will run most aspects of our newscasts. For the first time ever, the control room will no longer have a technical director or audio engineer. The Director will be the solo operator who programs the system to control video, graphics and audio mixing.

This is one of the biggest changes technically since Channel 3 signed on October 31, 1948.

In other news, WKYC has plenty of new faces floating around the building that we'd like to recognize.

*Justin Gutschmidt, who is a Cleveland native, comes to us from Living Social as Channel 3's new Digital Sales Director.
*Alyssa Raymond joins the Channel 3 News department as a Multimedia Journalist from our Gannett sister station KTVK-TV in Little Rock, Arkansas.
*Roselyn Muniz is our newest production assistant. Muniz is a Columbia University graduate with a master's degree in journalism.
*Anna Avelar is our new Human Resources Business Partner for WKYC.

Channel 3 also has several familiar faces around the Broadcast Center who are hanging up their gear and heading into retirement this month.

*Master Control Operator Jim Dungey is leaving the station after 40 years of service. Jim was once an evening technical director for Channel 3 News and also worked at the transmitter location for WKYC in Parma over the years.
*Satellite Operator and Photojournalist Dan Medsker ends his tenure at the station, also with 40 years on the job.
*Engineer Dan Keefe hangs up his camera and gear after 21 years.
*Our morning TD/Director Jerry Albert put his headset away for the final time on December 9th after 35 years. Jerry was a staple of the WKYC morning team having been technical director for "Today in Cleveland" with the late Del Donahoo and Tom Haley during its entire run 16 year run.
*And, my evening control room partner and audio specialist Bruce McLaurin will end his run at WKYC this Thursday after 32 years.

Congratulations to everyone and happy retirement. We'll miss you all.