After 17 years at WCVB, meteorologist David Brown is leaving the Boston ABC affiliate to be the chief advancement officer for the Forysth Institute.

“During his time here at WCVB, David has become an indispensable member of the team. David’s skill and unflappable style during major weather events has made him highly valued by viewers,” news director Andrew Vrees said in a statement. “David’s talents—across many aspects of our business—will be sorely missed.”

Brown joined the station in 1995. During his tenure at WCVB, he has also served as a news reporter and anchor.

“For more than 17 years, I’ve been challenged and at times humbled by New England’s weather,” Brown said.  “I’m leaving WCVB with mixed emotions.  It has been my honor to have worked alongside the finest in broadcasting at the nation’s top station.”

Broadcasting & Cable is out with its annual “Local TV Executives of the Year” list (subscription required). B&C contends that 2011 was a remarkable year for the local landscape — with tornadoes in Tuscaloosa and Joplin, with Hurricane Irene, and with the ever-present problem of how to make it all work on a shoestring budget:

From floods to wildfires, and even that once-in-a-century earthquake that rocked the East Coast, local stations were at times forced to report under the most trying circumstances. Because that is what their FCC license mandates, and that is what their DNA tells them to do.

After the jump, read the full list of B&C winners. Read more

Well-known Boston crime journalist Michele McPhee is joining WCVB as a general assignment reporter, the Hearst-owned station announced this week. Her first day is set for September 6th.

“McPhee is an aggressive and well-connected journalist with some of the best sources in Boston and the proven ability to break stories,” WCVB news director Andrew Vrees said. “We have been interested in McPhee’s work for sometime. Her track record speaks for itself.”

McPhee’s career includes stints with the Boston Herald, Boston Globe, and WRKO. She’s also an established crime author, having published such books as “A Date With Death,” which was recently adapted into a Lifetime movie, about the infamous “Craigslist killer.”

McPhee has recently appeared on Boston TV as a contributor for Fox O&O WFXT. Read more

A WCVB news van was shot at outside of Boston on Friday as reporter Kimberly Bookman and a photographer were finishing up a story about a gunfight that had happened earlier.

As the two packed up their gear following a report for the ABC-affiliate’s late newscast, they heard shots fired and two bullets hit the station’s van, according to the Boston Herald. Luckily, neither of them were hurt and they are not believed to have been the targets of the gunfire. Read more

A WCVB helicopter had to make what the station is calling a “precautionary landing” in the middle of a Boston park on Tuesday evening. Photographer Karen Lippert filmed the landing while on-board (video here).

“Warning lights and an alarm came on in the helicopter. Our pilot, Michael Young, did exactly what he was trained to do and made a precautionary landing,” said Andrew Vrees, WCVB’s news director.

Lippert and Young were taking the new helicopter, a Bell LongRanger, out for a test run.

“It was one of the softest landings we’re ever had,” Lippert said.

The ABC-affiliate covered the landing during its evening newscast with Rhondella Richardson reporting from the scene in Boston Common.