For eleven years, she has overseen an unaffiliated broadcast TV station owned and operated by Hearst Television in the sprawling Tampa-St. Petersburg-Lakeland-Sarasota-Sebring DMA — a station found across the region on nearly every MVPD provider.
Come April 1, she’ll be retired, having concluded more than 40 years of service in television across the Sunshine State.
March 31 will be the final day as President/GM of WMOR-TV in Lakeland, Fla., for Pam Barber.
Her duties will be absorbed by John Soapes, President/GM of WESH-2 and WKCF-18, Hearst Television’s NBC and CW affiliates serving the Orlando-Daytona market.
“Pam has been a fixture in Florida television with a track record of success,” said Hearst Television President Michael J. Hayes. “Over her 20 years with Hearst Television, she has been an advocate for her team and the community she serves. We are honored and grateful for the outstanding work she has done in her collaborative and creative style.”
Barber commented, “These 43 years went by fast in this industry. It was rewarding and gratifying to be able to spend the second half of it with Hearst. I look forward to handing the reins over to my friend and colleague John, who has been such a valuable partner in our efforts to serve the viewers of Central Florida, and to focus on my demanding and also rewarding charity work going forward.”
Barber joined WMOR in 2006 as General Sales Manager and helped strengthen an also-ran by using a format and formula that had made crosstown WTOG a “Superstation” in the 1980s; she began her career at WTOG-44 in 1983 as an account executive. Today, WMOR is now a home for live local sports while attracting viewers for its entertainment programming.
Before moving to the Tampa Bay region, Barber was Director of Sales at WFOR-4 in Miami for a five-year period. Prior to that, she held multiple sales roles at WTSP-10 in Tampa, starting in 1985 as a local account executive and rising to General Sales Manager in 1998.
