WOAI

“At approximately 5:00 a.m. a fire alarm was triggered at WOAI-TV, and the building was evacuated. Fire units arrived shortly thereafter. The fire was contained to second floor offices. We expect to have electricity restored to the building by noon, and we anticipate having WOAI-TV on the air later this afternoon,” WOAI general manager John Seabers said in a statement. “We are grateful no one was injured.”

In the station’s slideshow of the fire, flames can be seen in the second floor window of the WOAI building. WOAI reporters and anchors did live reports from the scene on Fox affiliate KABB, which is also owned by WOAI parent company Sinclair Broadcasting.

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Sinclair has already made management changes at at least two of its newly-acquired stations, WKRC in Cincinnati and WOAI in San Antonio. Broadcasting & Cable reports that WOAI general manager Jackie Rutledge worked her last day at the station on Friday, the same day Les Vann announced his WKRC exit.

Sinclair has also announced the acquisition of WHAM, the ABC affiliate in Rochester, from Newport Television for $54 million, bringing the total amount paid at closing to $459.7 million.

B&C reports John Seabers will be the new general manager at WOAI. Seabers is a former general manager of KABB-KMYS, Sinclair’s San Antonio duopoly. In January, he was promoted to group manager at the company.

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“The past fifteen years at KABB and KMYS have been very rewarding and gratifying, and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to expand my leadership responsibilities as general manager,” Radla, who served as KABB’s local sales manager beginning in 1997, said in a statement. “I look forward to building on the stations’ strong operations, quality programming and local news offerings, and continuing to serve our local community.”

Radla succeeds John Seabers, who was recently promoted to Sinclair TV Group Manager. continued…

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“Greg was a consummate journalist.  He was not just a news director, he was a mentor,” John Seabers, general manager of the San Antonio Fox-affiliate, told TVSpy. “There’s just such a void at the station right now.”

“We are all devastated,” KABB reporter Yami Virgin said today via email. “He is the best boss any of us have had.”

Koelfgen started at KABB in 1995, first working as an executive producer before moving on to become news director. During his time at the Fox-affiliate, Koelfgen helped launch “Fox News First,” the station’s morning newscast, and oversaw the growth of its nightly news audience.

“Greg Koelfgen was an amazing news director,” KABB sports director Chuck Miketinac told TVSpy in an email, “but what was most incredible about the man was that he was an even better human being.” continued…

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