Atlanta

Kirk Black, the vice president and general manager of Meredith Corporation’s WGCL in Atlanta, has parted ways with the station.

“Kirk Black has resigned to pursue other career opportunities,” a spokesperson for Meredith Corporation told TVSpy. “We are not commenting beyond that.”

Black also served as senior vice president for Meredith’s Local Media Group, a role which included oversight of the company’s national sales operations in Chicago and LA and the company’s eastern hub in Atlanta.

Broadcasting & Cable reports other WGCL staffers, including a top sales manager at the CBS-affiliate, departed suddenly today. Read more

Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.

Manuel Bojorquez, a general assignment reporter at WSB in Atlanta, is joining CBS News.

Bojorquez has worked at the Atlanta ABC-affiliate since 2006. In 2011, he won the NATAS Southeast Emmy for Live Reporting. While he was a general assignment reporter at KNXV in Phoenix, he won two Associated Press Awards for live reporting of Arizona wildfires.

Bojorquez began his television career at KESQ in Palm Springs. He will be a Dallas-based correspondent for CBS News.

Former WAGA anchor Mark Hayes will join KXAS, the NBC O&O in Dallas, next month.

Hayes announced last week that he would say goodbye to the Atlanta Fox O&O after ten years as the morning anchor. He will join KXAS in the same role, sharing the anchor desk from 4:30 – 7 a.m. with Deborah Ferguson.

“When a viewer turns on the news in the morning, Mark is the kind of person they want to see,” KXAS vice president of news Susan Tully said in a statement. “He has a warm delivery and makes the early wake-up just a little more enjoyable. Mark had a deeply loyal following in Atlanta because of his personable approach to giving viewers their first news of the day.” Read more

After 10 years at the anchor desk, Mark Hayes said an emotional goodbye to Atlanta’s WAGA today (video above).

In a statement announcing his departure, Hayes said “an incredible amount of soul searching” led to the decision “to venture out and continue to pursue my dreams in the field of broadcast journalism.” Read more

After a decade as morning anchor, Mark Hayes is leaving Atlanta’s WAGA.

Hayes joined the Atlanta Fox O&O in 2002. He currently anchors from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. with Guvir Dhindsa.

“We have enjoyed working with Mark over the past 10 years,” WAGA general manager Bill Schneider said in a statement. “He has always demonstrated tremendous enthusiasm for his work and it has resonated well with our viewers. We will miss Mark’s passion and wish him the best of luck in his future.”

Hayes will announce his departure and future plans on “Good Day Atlanta” tomorrow.

In the latest episode of mediabistroTV’s “My First Big Break,” we talk to “Inside Edition” anchor Deborah Norville. Now everyone knows her as the face of the syndicated CBS news program, but before she got her shot nationally, she started in Georgia, working at CBS affiliate WAGA. As for her break, it came before she even graduated from college, and involved a little bit of luck, and former President Jimmy Carter.

For more videos, check out our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter: @mediabistroTV

The National Association of Black Journalists has announced WSB anchor Monica Pearson will receive the 2012 Legacy Award.

Pearson, the anchor of the 4 and 6 p.m. newscasts at the ABC-affiliate, is the longest-running anchor in the Atlanta market. According to WSB, she was the city’s first woman and first minority to anchor the 6 p.m. newscast.

“Monica is an icon and for nearly four decades has served the Atlanta market giving a voice to the issues and interests of this city,” NABJ president Gregory Lee Jr. said in a statement. “She epitomizes the true meaning of this award, a true trailblazer opening doors for women and for people of color in local news.”

Pearson, who plans to retire in July after 37 years at WSB, will be honored this summer at NABJ’s Convention and Career Fair in New Orleans.

While covering the recent ACC men’s basketball tournament, Atlanta NBC-affiliate WXIA invited some team mascots into its studio, but an unofficial mascot–a skunk–showed up unannounced.

It was eventually revealed that traffic reporter John Gerard, aka “Commuter Dude,” had rented a skunk costume to surprise his morning colleagues.

Atlanta’s WSB is teaming up with Beat the Traffic, a provider of real-time traffic information, to launch an iPhone traffic app.

WSB already uses Beat the Traffic’s mapping functions for their on-air traffic reports, station manager Marian Pittman said in a statement. The free app will enable users to view and report real-time traffic conditions

WSB vice president and general manager Tim McVay said the app “is loaded with useful tools for Atlanta drivers.”

“It gives you instant access to location-based, interactive traffic maps, current travel times, and traffic jam warnings to avoid delays,” he said in a statement.

Roy Hobbs, whose decades-long career as an anchor and reporter was derailed by drug abuse, opened up about his struggle with addiction in a recent interview with Birmingham CBS-affiliate WIAT.

After working as an anchor at WAGA in Atlanta and ABC 33/40 in Birmingham, Hobbs was arrested in April 2010 for possession of crack-cocaine.  In the wake of Whitney Houston‘s death, Hobbs felt compelled to share his story with WIAT (video inside). Read more