General manager Bob Simone and news manager Bob Richardson have both left Tucson Fox-affiliate KMSB in the aftermath of the station entering into a shared-services agreement with CBS-affiliate KOLD.

KMSB parent company Belo announced in November that news operations at the station would be shut down and taken over by Raycom Media’s KOLD. Belo cited a lack of advertising revenue as the reason for the transition.

Simone, who was named president and general manager of KMSB in 2009, told staffers he had not been retained, according to a station source. Both Richardson and Simone worked their last day at KMSB this week.

Richardson had been news manager at KMSB since 2003. He announced today that he is launching a media consulting company in Arizona called RAR Productions. The company  will help businesses and organizations “with the news media, crisis management, event production or political messaging,” Richardson said in a statement. Read more

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including Morin Oluwole (Facebook), Michael Brito (Edelman Digital), and Tim Devane (bitly). Register now.

There is a new executive producer at WCBS in New York City: Diana Miller. Miller joins the CBS O&O from Anderson Cooper’s syndicated talk show, where she was a producer. Our sister site, FishbowlNY, has more details:

Miller’s affiliation with Cooper started at CNN, where she spent seven years on Anderson Cooper 360. She began as a production assistant, ultimately becoming a producer.

After her stint with the cable news network, Miller joined MTV as a senior producer. She developed and produced The Seven. Read more

The hosts of WJBK‘s morning show “The Nine” shared their memories of general manager Jeff Murri today.  Murri died suddenly on Thursday at the age of 50.

“The whole thing is quite amazing to me because just two days ago I was talking to the guy,” Lee Thomas said.  “We sang songs together.  We’ve shared life.  It’s like a part of you is missing truly because he meant so much to each and every one of us.” Read more

Matt Pumo has been named general manager of Titan Broadcasting’s WCWG, the CW-affiliate in Greensboro.

Until August, Pumo was the vice president and general manager of WALA-WFNA, the LIN Media duopoly in Mobile.

In a Titan Broadcasting statement announcing the hire, the company said Pumo’s priorities will be reintroducing the station to the market and rebranding WCWG to “encourage viewer interaction 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”

Lisa Kridos, who has been the executive producer of KTTV‘s morning show for the past 15 years, has been named executive producer of “The Ricki Lake Show,” which is set to premiere in September.

“Lisa has made a career of producing television that resonates with the modern day woman,” Stephen Brown, SVP of programming and development at Twentieth Television, said, in announcing the move. “The combination of Lisa and Ricki, one of the sharpest producers in morning television and a talented proven talk show host, will be a powerful and exciting force in daytime television.”

“Ricki Lake” has been sold in 93% of the country, including each of the top 50 markets.

“I am thrilled to be working with Ricki Lake and my friends at 20th Television,” Kridos said.  “Ricki has the qualities that make for the perfect daytime host and I am honored to be working on her team.”

In her new movie, “Big Miracle,” actress Kristen Bell plays a local TV reporter and, in a recent interview with New York magazine, she spoke about growing up with a news director dad.

Bell’s father, Tom Bell, worked as a news director at KPHO in Phoenix and currently serves as the ND at WOAI in San Antonio.

“I grew up going to the station with him and being able to play with the teleprompters, knowing the behind the scenes of news directing,” Bell told New York.  “And it’s very similar to acting. He had a lot of hesitancy because he knew the rejection that was possible. He had been the one forced to reject people.”

Facilities at KPHO, the CBS-affiliate in Phoenix, are undergoing extensive renovations that will bring upgrades to the studio and the newsroom.

The renovations will cost nearly $1 million, the Phoenix Business Journal reports.  The studio renovations include an upgrade to energy-efficient technology, while the newsroom renovations will give every KPHO staffer the ability to edit video at their desks and filter it through a “content center hub.” Station employees will be located on a newly-constructed second-floor mezzanine (pictured).

“This really changes that way that people think about story assignments and where a story goes first,” KPHO vice president and general manager Edward Munson told the Business Journal. Read more

WJBK vice president and general manager Jeff Murri died suddenly on Thursday.  He was 50.

Murri began his broadcast career with WJBK and had served as GM of the Fox O&O since 2001.

“We are devastated by the loss of one of our most beloved members of the Fox Television Stations family,” Jack Abernethy, CEO of Fox Television Stations, said in a statement.  “There are no words to express the sadness of this tragedy. Jeff was an exceptional leader, a compassionate friend, a devoted husband and a loving father. He had great passion and dedication to WJBK and his legacy will live on in the many lives he touched. We will miss him tremendously.”

The cause of death has not yet been released. Read more

This week, News 12 Long Island is hiring a news writer and a news line producer. Meanwhile, WDSU is in need of an executive producer, and Maryland Public Television is looking for a web developer. Get the scoop on these openings below, and find additional local TV gigs on mediabistro.com.

• News Writer News 12 Long Island (Woodbury, NY)
• News Line Producer News 12 Long Island (Woodbury, NY)
• Executive Producer WDSU (New Orleans, LA)
• Web Developer Maryland Public Television (Owings Mills, MD)
• Instructional Designer/Online Course Producer Maryland Public Television (Owings Mills, MD)

For more job listings, go to the Mediabistro job board, and to post a job, visit our employer page. For real-time openings and employment news, follow @MBJobPost.

KETV has been forthcoming about the recent arrest of anchor Adrian Whitsett. The Omaha ABC-affiliate reported during its 10 p.m. newscast on Wednesday that Whitsett was arrested over the weekend and charged with driving under the influence, as well as driving the wrong way down a one-way street.

Whitsett, who anchors KETV’s 5 p.m newscast, is currently on “an extended leave of absence” from the station.

Omaha CBS-affiliate KMTV also reported on Whitsett’s arrest this week.

Whitsett joined KETV in 2008, shortly after he graduated from the University of Nebraska. According to the Omaha World-Herald, he was arrested around 2:30 a.m. on Saturday with a blood-alcohol level of .262.