Melissa Mahan signed off Friday from KOAT, the ABC affiliate in Albuquerque.

“Thank you New Mexico for all the memories!” Mahan wrote on Facebook. “Today is bittersweet and I will always treasure my time here.”

Mahan, who joined the station in 2008, co-anchors the morning newscast. She has previously worked at WLNE in Providence, KJCT in Grand Junction and KTVE in Monroe.

No word yet on where she is headed. [h/t NewsBlues]

Citadel Communications will give five minutes of free airtime to political candidates who want to introduce themselves and their campaign platform to voters, according to Broadcasting & Cable.

B&C said the stations allotting the time are WOI in Des Moines, IA, WHBF in Quad Cities,IL-IA, KCAU in Sioux City, IA, KLKN in Lincoln, NE and WLNE in Providence R.I.

The article said the station group has offered the free air time to candidates for eight years running.

Kevin Coskren is leaving KLKN to be the chief meteorologist at WLNE in Providence, according to the Lincoln Journal Star.

Coskren, who joined the Lincoln ABC-affiliate in 1999 and was promoted to chief meteorologist in 2001, said that he has always wanted to return to the northeast. After KLKN parent company Citadel Communications purchased WLNE last year, he wrote to the president of the company and said he’d like to be considered for open positions at the Providence ABC-affiliate.

“I wish I could pick up the city of Lincoln, all my friends, my children’s school and KLKN and move it with me to another part of the country,” Coskren said. “This always will be my second home.” Read more

Chief meteorologist Fred Campagna is leaving WLNE, the ABC-affiliate in Providence, next month, GoLocalProv reports.

“At the appropriate time, I went to channel 6 management with a reasonable proposal that I thought would allow me to stay at the station for, at least, the remainder of my contract (Aug 2013),” Campagna told GoLocalProv. “The station dismissed my proposal out of hand, and we agreed to terminate the contract on July 31.”

Campagna, who handles the weather forecasts on the 5, 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts, has worked at the station for 14 years. He will reportedly be replaced by Kevin Coskren, who is currently chief meteorologist at KLKN, the ABC-affiliate in Lincoln, NE.

WLNE‘s Doreen Scanlon has been absent from the morning anchor desk at the Providence ABC-affiliate for five weeks.

“I am on a short medical leave but hope to be back with you all in the mornings soon,” Scanlon wrote on Facebook earlier this month.

On the evening newscast last night, WLNE revealed that Scanlon has been absent because she is suffering from hyperemesis, a condition of pregnancy that causes near-constant nausea. She has been on bed rest since last month.

WLNE reporter Shannon O’Brien, who interviewed Scanlon, said the station has been flooded with calls and emails from viewers inquiring about the morning anchor. Watch video of the interview inside… Read more

After just four months as the station’s news director, Irene Mahoney-Paige is out at WLNE.

Vice president and general manager Chris Tzianabos confirmed her exit to TVSpy today.

Mahoney-Paige, who came to WLNE after three years as an executive producer at WTIC in Hartford, is departing the station following a November ratings book that was not up to Tzianabos’s expectations.

Tzianabos says that WLNE is now searching for someone with “enough experience” to make the news department “competitive and relevant in the market.” Read more

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

New owner Citadel Communications has made good on its promise to swiftly upgrade WLNE to HD.  The Providence ABC-affiliate is now broadcasting all of its newscasts in high definition.

“Citadel Communications has made a major investment in upgrading the entire station to HD,” WLNE vice president and general manager Chris Tzianabos said recently.  “We are extremely pleased to offer viewers of WLNE-TV/ABC6 a crisp, high quality picture and  dramatically different sound.”

Along with the HD conversion, WLNE debuted a revamped logo and redesigned website this month. Read more

Courtney Fallon, who previously worked as a newsroom writer for Boston’s WHDH, has been named weekend sports anchor and reporter at WLNE.

“Courtney is full of energy and extremely passionate about sports,” WLNE news director Irene Mahoney-Paige said, in announcing the move. “From the sidelines to the anchor desk her enthusiasm is sure to bring southern New England a view of the game they have never seen before.”

In addition to her recent work at WHDH, Fallon has done on-air announcing for WBZ-FM. Read more

Providence ABC-affiliate WLNE, which was purchased last spring by Citadel Communications, has launched a new website with an updated logo as it prepares to begin broadcasting the news in HD.

The design of the new site, as well as the new logo, are similar to the refreshed looks of other Citadel stations, including KLKN in Lincoln and WOI in Des Moines.