Starting January 1, the ABC affiliate in the sprawling Tampa-Lakeland-Sebring DMA owned by The E.W. Scripps Company will have a new VP/GM, as the company has promoted from within to find its new leader.
Teresa Morgan will take the top role at WFTS-28, rising from Station Manager (a role she just earned two months ago) and Senior Director of Sales.
She takes a role held by Regional VP/GM Nick Nicholson, who joined the station in 2014 and will be retiring at year’s end.
Morgan rises at a station that has been her home since 2003, when she began at the station branded locally as “ABC Action News” as a Senior Account Executive. Morgan then became Local Sales Manager in 2011, and ascended to Director of Sales in 2016.
Nicholson commented, “Teresa has done a tremendous job leading day-to-day operations here in Tampa. She has a deep understanding of all aspects of our WFTS operations, the Tampa market and community. She has achieved strong results in every role she has held and embodies the leadership characteristics that are crucial to guiding the station forward in this fast-changing media environment.”
Scripps is in a unique situation in the Tampa-St. Petersburg DMA, as Gray Television’s WWSB-7 in Sarasota-Bradenton is also an ABC affiliate — making it a “secondary” ABC station. In areas such as Highlands County, Fla., both stations can be found on local cable TV channel lineups. However, WFTS’s “ABC Action News” is largely considered the primary source of programming tied to the network outside of Manatee and Sarasota Counties.
Before joining WFTS, Morgan served in positions in sales and community relations at crosstown WTVT-13 in Tampa, the FOX Television Stations O&O.
At WFTS, the search for a new Director of Sales is on.
