He graduated from the University of Missouri in Columbia’s prestigious journalism school in 1987 and has served as a news manager and key day-to-day leader at stations across the country. As of Monday, he’ll be going back to school — sort of.
Meet the new General Manager of the university-owned NBC affiliate serving mid-Missouri.
Earning the top role at KOMU-8 in Columbia, Mo., is Scott Diener.
Diener will be just the fourth General Manager to lead KOMU-8 in the last 50 years. He’s inbound from Gray Media’s KMOV-4 in St. Louis, where he had served as Executive News Director since 2017 until exiting last year.
Before that, Diener was VP/News Director for CBS Dallas-Fort Worth and for CBS Los Angeles, holding the dual-market role from 2006-2016.
From 2002-2026, Diener was the Executive News Director for WHAS-TV in Louisville and KTVK-TV in Phoenix for Belo Corp. Prior roles also include stints as VP/News Director for KNTV-TV in San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose under Granite Broadcasting ownership; and as News Director for The E.W. Scripps Co.’s flagship WCPO-TV in Cincinnati.
“Scott’s career has spanned some of the biggest markets in the nation, where he has driven the kind of hands-on, community-first reporting that KOMU and the School of Journalism are dedicated to,” said David Kurpius, Dean of the Missouri School of Journalism. “I’m thrilled to welcome this proven leader back to Mizzou in a high impact position.”
Diener remarked, “It’s a full-circle moment for me. I’m honored and humbled to be at one of the nation’s most innovative journalism labs, and I’m excited to lead the staff, the faculty and the next generation of broadcast journalists at KOMU.”
He added, “My intention is to be present. As a leader, I’ll be talking to everyone. There is nothing like KOMU anywhere in the country, and the ability to lead a team that is educating the next generation in a real-world learning lab is exciting to me. At the same time, we have to be the provider of the best, most accurate content on all platforms. We have to be involved in the community. From a journalistic standpoint, we want to be there for the people in the community, but I’m getting involved in a lot of ways in Columbia. All my friends know I’m a die-hard Mizzou Tiger.”
