Former KHON-TV President and General Manager Joe McNamara has taken the reins at KITV, Hawaii’s ABC-TV affiliate.

The change comes after New York-based Hearst Television sold KITV to California-based SJL Broadcast Management.

Known to those with whom he does business as “Joe Mac,” the new president and general manager of KITV says he’s excited to be back in Honolulu.

McNamara moved to the mainland after leaving KHON in 2012. In his most recent assignment, McNamara consolidated a three-building TV station operation in Roanoke, Va., into one building, boosting the station’s news staff to 32 from seven.

Honolulu has a “big-city feel, but in 10 minutes” you can transport yourself to the country, he said.

The Hawaii economy feels robust, he said — “it is looking good.” He said the vibrant construction industry is helping retail and other local businesses.

McNamara and his wife kept the condominium they purchased during their earlier run in the islands, so they had automatic digs.

His daughter, a teacher; her husband, a personal trainer; and their children had been living here, but they just moved to New York state.

“We’ll see how they do after the winter,” McNamara chuckled.

“I’m not looking to leave Honolulu again,” he said. “I’m looking to be here a long time.”

McNamara said the SJL takeover at KITV has been about 180 degrees different from the tumult he walked into at KHON in 2006 when that station was bought by SJL from Emmis Communications Corp.

The ownership change at KHON brought resignations of senior station management and department heads.

In this ownership transfer, aside from the largely inevitable departure of former KITV President and General Manager Andrew Jackson in August (for a newly created position at Anthology Marketing Group), all has been relatively quiet. The sale of KITV to SJL closed earlier this month.

McNamara has jumped headlong into the process of upgrading the station to high-definition broadcasting. He hopes to be pau by year’s end, he said.

McNamara said his days are spent poring over equipment possibilities from various manufacturers, having discussions with the engineering staff about changing out the station’s infrastructure, and analyzing staggering cost figures.

The capital outlay would seem to indicate that SJL could hang on to KITV for some time.

“I would say so,” McNamara said, ticking off a list of stations, a weather network and other operations on the mainland and in Puerto Rico that SJL and its affiliates have owned for many years.

SJL held on to KHON for just a year and a half, selling KHON and mainland sister stations in 2007 for $330 million, after buying them for $259 million in 2005.

McNamara said SJL’s quick sale of KHON and the other stations was the result of changes undertaken by Blackstone Group, SJL’s financier.

He survived the SJL sale of KHON to New Vision Television and continued to lead the station, but New Vision later filed for bankruptcy reorganization and sold KHON in 2012. It now is owned by Media General Inc.

Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com, or on Twitter as @erikaengle.