At KHON-TV, Joe has left the building.
Not top-rated news anchorman Joe Moore, but President and General Manager Joe McNamara, the oft-referred-to "Joe Mac."
Scott Blumenthal, executive vice president of KHON’s owner LIN Media, confirmed that McNamara was no longer with the company "and that we will be naming someone here very quickly." KHON is the Honolulu affiliate for the Fox and CW networks.
McNamara was transferred to Honolulu in 2006 from WBNG-TV in Binghamton, N.Y., by KHON’s owner at the time, SJL Broadcast Management Group, which later re-branded as Montecito Broadcast Group. Binghamton was the No. 156 market and Honolulu was the No. 72 television market in the country at the time.
SJL/Montecito purchased KHON from Emmis Communications Corp. the previous year, and the transition was tumultuous.
KHON experienced an exodus of several top executives almost immediately after the sale, including Senior Vice President and General Manager Rick Blangiardi, who also was at the helm of Emmis-owned KGMB-TV at the time.
McNamara succeeded Blangiardi at KHON. Blangiardi is now general manager of KGMB and KHNL.
McNamara could not be reached for comment.
Changes at the top are common following station sales, and KHON was purchased by Rhode Island-based LIN Television Corp. in May.
"We believe very heavily" in our stations being good members of the communities they serve, Blumenthal said in a telephone interview. LIN’s stations "provide the product that the community asks for," based on research in each community.
The Hawaii station will be "managed by local people," he said. "When we name a new GM, it’s not my station anymore, it’s theirs," Blumenthal said.
"We own, we don’t run. Our stations are not rubber-stamped. … They are different from each other, and they do what’s appropriate for their communities."
Viewers also have noticed on-air staffing adjustments since the sale, including the loss of Manolo Morales’ restaurant visits during the morning news show "Wake Up 2day."
