Two former WVIT (NBC 30) executives, Tom O’Brien and Steve Schwaid, are the subject of the national broadcast rumor mill:
From NewsBlues:
Don’t look now, but something’s going on with our old pal Steve Schwaid, former senior VP for news and programming and SVP of strategic initiatives for NBC Universal and, since June 2008, director of news and digital content (news director) at Meredith’s WGCL-46-CBS in Atlanta (Market #8).
In late November, after many false rumors of his anticipated departure, Schwaid was “promoted” to VP of digital content at Meredith’s Local Media Group. The company said the promotion reflected Meredith’s “heightened focus on the digital space, including increasing mobile news service and maximizing revenue opportunities.” Meredith said Schwaid would continue to oversee the news department at WGCL in addition to his new duties.
Then strange things began to happen. Two weeks ago, a NewsBlues tipster spotted Schwaid in Manhattan having lunch at the Capital Grill with Tom O’Brien, former GM at WNBC-4, who is now the chief revenue officer at CNBC. O’Brien and Schwaid arrived and left separately, but shared a table in the back. Maybe just two old NBC pals getting together for a burger. Probably just a coincidence.
Then, last week, the Meredith Jobs Center posted an opening for a news director at WGCL-46-CBS in Atlanta. Before your Surly Editor® could apply, the listing was yanked. “This job is no longer posted!!” says the website.
Then agent Rick Gevers, who monitors the news director swamp in his weekly newsletter, confirmed that WGCL is, indeed, seeking a news director who will report directly to Schwaid. But with the online ad quickly yanked, does that mean they’ve already found the perfect guy or gal?
Stay tuned. Things are about to become even more interesting in Atlanta.
