Buffalo Stance: Jaromin To Nurse WKBW Back To Health

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He’s been an owner and operator of TV stations in Mississippi’s largest city and the Director of Media Operations for a MVPD in northwest Ohio’s biggest market.


He served as a VP/GM of Nexstar Media Group‘s CBS affiliate in Rochester, N.Y., WROC-8, and successfully implemented a now-concluded Joint Sales Agreement between WROC and the Sinclair Broadcast Group-owned Fox affiliate in the market.

Now, this individual is returning home, in a way, by taking over the station he held a Local Sales Manager position at two decades ago.

Marc Jaromin is now VP/GM of WKBW-7, the ABC affiliate serving not only Buffalo and Niagara Falls, N.Y., but also most of central Ontario, with viewers stretching from Hamilton and St. Catharines through the Greater Toronto Area.

Jaromin presently serves as CEO of Roundtable Management Services, a media consulting business located in Perrysburg, Ohio. Until earlier this year, Jaromin held the role of Director of Media Operations for Buckeye Broadband, a Toledo-based multichannel video programming distributor.

At Buckeye, he served as a senior executive for media operations, accountable for two regional television networks, Advertising Sales, Creative Services, Community Relations and Marketing.

He joined Buckeye in 2016, and for nine years before that was President/CEO of Roundtable Broadcasting — owner/operator of WDBD-Fox40, WUFX-My35 and WXMS-MeTV in Jackson, Miss. Those stations were owned by Roundtable from 2008-2012 and were sold to Raycom Media.

Jaromin began his career and ascended in local TV leadership in Western New York. From 2001-2007, he was VP/GM at WROC-8 and helped create the JSA between the Nexstar station and a Sinclair-owned Fox affiliate. The JSA ended when Sinclair acquired a second station in Rochester.

From 1997-2001, Jaromin was at WKBW-7 as LSM, under Granite Broadcasting ownership.

In addition to his professional roles, Jaromin also serves as an associate dean for the NAB Leadership Foundation’s Broadcast Leadership Training program.

“We are looking forward to welcoming Marc back to Buffalo to lead the WKBW team in serving local audiences and advertisers,” said Scripps President of Local Media Brian Lawlor. “Marc’s in-depth experience across television operations and his ability to cultivate leadership in others make him a great fit for [WKBW] and its community.”

Jaromin noted that he was eager to return to his hometown of Buffalo with his wife, Michelle, whom he met in Buffalo; and their two daughters.

Jaromin’s appointment follows a tumultuous August at WKBW, a station that has struggled to compete in the local news ratings race with Nexstar-owned CBS affiliate WIVB-4 and TEGNA-owned NBC affiliate WGRZ-2.

As RBR+TVBR reported on Aug. 8, a report in The Buffalo News confirmed that Michael Nurse — GM of WKBW-7 in Buffalo since 2013 — is no longer with the station.

Additionally, GSM Steve Cuccia and LSM Erin Colvin-Collins are no longer with WKBW.

Nurse rose to the top role as WKBW GM in 2013 under previous owner Granite Broadcasting; Scripps completed its purchase of WKBW in June 2014. It paid $110 million for the station and for WMYD- 20 (myTV) in Detroit.

Scripps Sr. Director of Revenue Strategy Michael Barbetta served as WKBW’s interim station manager, the Buffalo News said.

WKBW was once owned by Capital Cities and a ratings leader in Western New York and much of Southern Ontario. With its March 1985 acquisition of ABC, it had to divest WKBW.

This sent WKBW to Queen City Broadcasting, and then to Granite in 1995.

Under Scripps, numerous enhancements were made at WKBW, including the hiring of noted Canadian TV journalist Ashley Rowe as a key anchor.

Nevertheless, WKBW remained behind its competitors, signaling the Scripps management shift two months ago.