Kyla Igoe is saying goodbye to Buffalo ABC affiliate WKBW, Alan Pergament of The Buffalo News reports.

Igoe, who has worked at WKBW since 2007, has opted out of her contract to spend more time with her family and to help her husband with his videography business.

“We appreciate her efforts and wish her well in her new ventures,” Mike Nurse, who will officially take over next month as the station’s general manager, told Pergament.

Patrick Taney, morning anchor for Buffalo ABC affiliate WKBW, is moving 26 markets down and about seventy miles east to work for Rochester, NY, NBC affiliate WHEC.

Taney told TVSpy, he “decided against moving to another city further away at this point in my life despite other offers.” According to Buffalo News writer Alan Pergament, WKBW news director Polly Van Doren wrote in a memo to staff, the move will allow Taney to spend more time with his parents who live near Rochester.

Taney came to WKBW from WZVN in Fort Myers, FL. Before WZVN, he worked at WBBH also in Fort Myers, KHOG in Fort Smith-Fayetteville, AR, and Cable 13 in Leighton, PA. Taney said he will stay at WKBW until the station finds a replacement.

Granite Broadcasting has named Michael Nurse president and general manager of Buffalo ABC affiliate WKBW.

“For nearly 30 years, Michael has proven himself to be an experienced manager and industry leader,” said Duane Lammers, Granite’s chief operating officer. “He is a seasoned broadcast executive that embodies Granite’s commitment to the communities we serve.  With a deep knowledge of the greater Buffalo market and our operations, he is the ideal person to lead WKBW.”

The move is effective July 1. Nurse has been WKBW’s station manager and vice president of sales for the last 11 years. He succeeds Bill Ransom who announced his retirement earlier this month.

Nurse started his career at WRKO radio in Boston and has served as GM at TV stations in Boston and Washington, D.C.

[TVNewsCheck]

After almost 25 years with Granite Broadcasting, WKBW general manager Bill Ransom will retire next month.

“He has been a positive voice for our company, the broadcasting profession and Buffalo, and will be truly missed,” Granite COO Duane Lammers said in a statement. “We wish him all the best in the next chapter of his life.”

Ransom has been general manager of the Buffalo ABC affiliate since 1995. Prior to that, he was the general sales manager of WPTA, Granite’s ABC affiliate in Fort Wayne, Ind.

“I am truly grateful to have had the privilege of working with Granite’s talented and committed team members, and am honored to have led our Buffalo station, WKBW, for the last 18 years,” Ransom said in a statement.

Polly Van Doren will take over as news director of Buffalo ABC-affiliate WKBW.

Van Doren comes to Buffalo from Springfield, MO, where she has been news director of KOLR-KOZL for 14 years. Leo Henning was named general manager of the stations last week.

Before joining KOLR-KOZL, Van Doren worked at WTVW in Evansville, where she was an anchor and managing editor, and WPSD in Paducah, where she was an anchor and reporter. She begins at WKBW on September 20, replacing John Di Scullo, who left WKBW in July for crosstown rival WBBZ.

After nearly 30 years with WKBW, news director John Di Sciullo is leaving the Buffalo ABC-affiliate to join crosstown station WBBZ, where he’ll work as executive director of production and promotion.

“After spending almost 30 years at WKBW, I felt that I did everything I could do there,” Di Sciullo said in a statement, posted by The Buffalo News.  “The people at Channel 7, and especially at Eyewitness News, are the hardest working team in town. It was an honor and a privilege to work with everyone there.”

No word yet on who will replace Di Sciullo as news director at WKBW.  WBBZ is an independent station that airs a couple of local public affairs and entertainment shows in addition to syndicated programming.

Weathercaster Autumn Lewandowski will be filling in on Buffalo ABC-affiliate WKBW for the summer, the Buffalo News reports.

Lewandowski most recently worked part-time at rival WGRZ, the NBC-affiliate. She will work at WKBW on a temporary basis beginning Thursday, news director John DiSciullo told the Buffalo News.

“I’m very proud to be Buffalo born and bred, and feel extremely blessed to have the opportunity to bring the weather to you on WKBW,” Lewandowski wrote on Facebook.

WKBW — the ABC affiliate in Buffalo, NY — is cutting 10 jobs after outsourcing station master control operations to an out-of-town company.

“Unfortunately, technology is replacing people,” station general manager Bill Ransom told Buffalo Business First. “I don’t feel good about this decision. I haven’t slept in two days because of it.”

The 10 people who will lose their jobs are longtime employees, Buffalo Business First reports. WKBW is the third station in the Buffalo market to transfer master control operations — which include running commercials and paid programming and handling satellite feeds from networks — out of town. The other two are WGRZ, the NBC affiliate, and WIVB, the CBS affiliate.

It’s been three long years since the last labor agreement expired, but now the news and technical staffers at Buffalo’s WKBW finally have a new deal.

On Friday, WKBW and the local chapter of NABET-CWA (National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians- Communication Workers of America) announced that they had agreed to a new, 4-year deal.

“The WKBW family looks forward to continue working together under this new contract, serving our viewers,” said WKBW president and general manager Bill Ransom, in making the announcement.

Under the new agreement, WKBW staffers will receive wage and benefit increases while the station, in return, gains flexibility in defining job roles. Read more