Tribune Broadcasting Names John Cruse as General Manager of New Orleans TV Station Duopoly

Tribune Broadcasting Names John Cruse as General Manager of New Orleans TV Station Duopoly

CHICAGO, May 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Tribune Broadcasting today named New Orleans native John Cruse as Vice President/General Manager of its New Orleans television duopoly, WGNO-TV/WNOL-TV, effective immediately. Cruse, who previously served as director of sales for the two stations, has spent his entire career in radio and television advertising in the New Orleans market and knows the community extremely well.

"John's talent and energy, his experience in this market and his strong ties to the community make him the ideal choice to lead our New Orleans TV stations," said Jerry Kersting, Tribune Broadcasting President. "He knows instinctively what will work locally and what won't, and how we can best serve the interests of our viewers and advertisers because he was born down the bayou in Houma, Louisiana, and moved to New Orleans in the eighth grade."

Cruse was appointed WGNO/WNOL's director of sales in 2005, responsible for overseeing all sales efforts at both TV stations. Prior to that, he was local sales manager for WGNO, managing a nine-person sales staff and overseeing all local and regional sales. Cruse has held sales and advertising jobs of increasing responsibility in New Orleans since beginning his career KHOM-FM as an account executive in 1993.

He has also seen WGNO/WNOL through some of New Orleans' most difficult times, having served as interim general manager for the TV stations in the late summer of 2008 when Hurricane Gustav hit southern Louisiana.

"Over the last several years, this market and the people who live and work here have been through some tremendous change," said Cruse. "I'm a local guy with local ties who loves living in New Orleans and wants nothing but success for these two stations--we intend to keep developing our news and local programming and to be aggressive in our promotional campaigns as we create unique brands for WGNO and WNOL."

TRIBUNE is one of the country's leading multimedia companies, operating businesses in publishing, interactive and broadcasting. In publishing, Tribune's leading daily newspapers include the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, Sun Sentinel (South Florida), Orlando Sentinel, Hartford Courant, The Morning Call and Daily Press. The company's broadcasting group operates 23 television stations, WGN America on national cable and Chicago's WGN-AM. Popular news and information websites complement Tribune's print and broadcast properties and extend the company's nationwide audience. At Tribune we take what we do seriously and with a great deal of pride. We also value the creative spirit and nurture a corporate culture that doesn't take itself too seriously.

Source: Tribune Broadcasting

CONTACT: Gary Weitman, SVP/Corporate Relations of Tribune Broadcasting,
+1-312-222-3394 (Office), gweitman@tribune.com

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