Houseman had been with WPIX for 31 years. He took over as news director following the departure of Bill Carey last year.

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Parent company Tribune exited bankruptcy recently with Peter Liquori as the new CEO.

Also new is Larry Wert, Tribune’s head of local broadcasting for the company’s 23 stations. Sister site TVSpy reports Wert has made hiring a PIX news director his main objective.

• Related: TVSpy, Larry Wert: Hiring a News Director at WPIX is Top Priority

FishbowlNY attempted to reach a WPIX spokesperson for comment.

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Earlier this month, we reported Bill Carey stepped down as Channel 11 news director. It was a three-year run that attempted to finally lift WPIX past rival WNYW. But Queensborough Community College media professor Eileen White thinks aside from the new bells, whistles, and talent, nothing much has changed at WPIX. She says the newscasts, primarily at 10 p.m., attempted to reinvent the wheel, but in the process, alienated viewers.

One of Carey’s signature moves were to extricate Jodi Applegate from News 12 Long Island and bump seasoned partners Jim Watkins and Kaity Tong.

“That smacks of ageism too,” White tells FishbowlNY. “Let’s just put younger people on, because younger people like [watching] younger people.”

Ironically, Tong, 63, earlier this year gave testimony in an age discrimation lawsuit filed by former WPIX news director Karen Scott.

White also points to a more chronic problem for WPIX, the Fox prime-time lineup.

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Hickey prepares for her first NYC Marathon

“She would love that I’m doing this in her memory to raise money for other people, because her life was always about doing for other people.”

With those words, WPIX/Channel 11 reporter Magee Hickey is preparing to run her first New York City Marathon. She formed a Channel 11 team to run on behalf of the American Cancer Society. Hickey’s mother Jean died of colon cancer five years ago.

While the New York native takes pride in exploring news experiences, a 26.2 mile jaunt across the five boroughs definitely goes to a different level.

“They stress your first marathon is not about speed, because if you run too quickly in the beginning then you’ll have nothing left for the back half of it,” Hickey tells FishbowlNY. “A lot of people get injured. Lots of people are limping and never run again.”

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FishbowlNY has obtained a terse email that WPIX VP/GM Eric Meyrowitz sent to staffers this morning.

While we conduct our search for Bill Carey’s replacement, John Houseman will be interim News Director. During this time, please see John or me with any questions.

There has been speculation that Tribune honchos, based in Chicago, will ultimately take over the station.

WPIX and Carey were dealt a bad hand in recent months. The fight to grab all-important ratings from WNYW/Channel 5 suffered a setback, thanks in no small part to the Cablevision/Tribune retransmission fees issue. WPIX has been non-existent on the Bethpage, N.Y.-owned cable company since mid-August. Approximately 3 million Channel 11 viewers have been in the dark.

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