Bill Worden will retire from WKTV later this month, setting off a slew of anchor changes at the Utica NBC affiliate.

Don Shipman (pictured) the station’s morning anchor, will shift to evenings to replace Worden on the 10 and 11 p.m newscasts. He will also co anchor the 5 p.m. newscast alongside Kristin Copeland. Steve McMurray, the station’s news director, will shift to the 6 p.m. newscast.

Sports director Jason Powles, who has worked in his current role since 1998, will make the transition to the news desk, replacing Shipman on the morning newscast. He will co-anchor with Jenel Boston.

Weekend sports anchor Mike Levin gets promoted to sports director, replacing Powles. Dave Dellecese, the station’s assistant news director, will permanently anchor the noon newscast, which he has been doing on a temporary basis since September. Read more

Bill Worden announced his retirement after 35 years as the evening anchor for the Utica, NY, NBC affiliate WKTV.

Worden told viewers at the end of the 6 p.m. news he would not be slowing down, “Retiring?  Shuffling around in slippers?  I don’t think so,” Worden said.  “I’ve actually joined a band.”

“Bill Worden is the kind of respected journalist who makes NBC mean something,” said Steve Capus, president of NBC News. “The network, after all is a collection of cities and small towns across this great country, and there is no doubt, in Central New York, Bill has represented NBC with distinction. We wish him the best after 35 remarkable years.” Read more

Jenel Boston is the new morning co-anchor at WKTV, the NBC-affiliate in Utica.

Boston joins WKTV from WUTB, the MyNetworkTV-affiliate in Baltimore, where she was a writer, producer and anchor.

“It’s been a big adjustment. I’ve been going to bed around 6 p.m.,” she said on Friday. “That’s normally when I get off of work!”

Boston will anchor the 5 to 7 a.m. morning newscast alongside Don Shipman. She replaces Megan Koskovich, who left WKTV for Baltimore’s WMAR in March.

After six years at WKTV in Utica, Megan Koskovich is leaving the anchor desk for a job as a producer at WMAR in Baltimore.

Koskovich, a Maryland native, has been WKTV’s morning anchor, alongside Don Shipman and Bill Kardas, for four years.

“I am really sad about it,” Koskovich said on this morning’s newscast. “I’ve met a lot of great people. I’ve had a great run here at WKTV. This is very bittersweet.”

Her last day will be March 2. WKTV has not yet announced a replacement anchor.

Steve Doerr, who most recently served as vice president and general manager of Providence’s WLNE, has been named VP-group manager of Smith Media‘s New York/New England region.

The Vermont-based company announced the appointment today, stating that Doerr will oversee WFFF and WVNY in Burlington and WKTV in Utica, NY.

“Steve is an exceptional individual and a seasoned broadcast executive with diverse expertise in all key facets of television station management,” Smith Media VP-CEO Michael Granados said, in announcing the move.  “We are confident in Steve’s passion and experience in the television industry will take our Vermont and NY based properties to new levels in the communities they serve.” Read more

Utica NBC-affiliate WKTV celebrated the marriage of anchor Don Shipman during a recent newscast, playing video of the ceremony and congratulating the groom. While it’s nothing new for a station to share news from an anchor’s personal life, the coverage of Shipman’s marriage is notable because he married his longtime boyfriend in a ceremony now legal under a recently passed New York law (video after the jump). Read more

Vic Vetters, a 28-year veteran of the local news industry, will take over as vice president and general manager of Media General’s WJAR, the NBC affiliate in Providence, on October 3.

Vetters will join WJAR after four years as vice president and group manager of three Smith Media stations: WFFF and WVNY in Burlington and WKTV in Utica, where he spent the bulk of his career in local news.

He joined WKTV in 1994 as both the director of news and operations and the afternoon anchor at the NBC affiliate. He was named general manager in 2001 and continued his responsibilities anchoring the noon newscasts until 2008, when his role at Smith Media was expanded to include the two stations in Burlington.

Vetters is a practicing attorney and a member of the New York State Bar. He replaces Lisa Churchville, who retired June 30.