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Vickie Burns, named today as Vice President, News for KNBC, comes from WNBC in New York where she was Vice President of Content and Audience Development for NBC Local Media New York. She starts at KNBC on August 16 and will report to Craig Robinson, the station's president and general manger. She replaces Steve Lange, the last newsroom boss who stayed just a few months. At Burns' station in New York, there's been talk (oops, already happened) of replacing the traditional 5 p.m. newscast with something more digital and webby. Release is after the jump.
* Also in local TV: KCET Channel 28 reportedly laid off 13 staffers at a meeting yesterday.
BURBANK, July 28, 2010 -- Vickie Burns has been named Vice President, News for KNBC, it was announced today by Craig Robinson, KNBC President and General Manager. In this role, Burns will lead the day-to-day news operations of KNBC and will oversee content production and distribution across all digital platforms. Burns will start at the station on August 16th and will report directly to Robinson.
"Vickie is a seasoned journalist who has extensive experience running a newsroom," said Robinson. "She understands the needs of local news consumers and how to create quality content that can travel across multiple media platforms. She is a great addition to our news organization."
Burns joins KNBC from WNBC, NBC’s owned and operated station in New York, where she was Vice President of Content and Audience Development for NBC Local Media New York since 2009. In that capacity, Burns was responsible for developing strategy to build audiences across the station’s media platforms, including WNBC, NY Nonstop, nbcnewyork.com, taxicabs and other out-of-home platforms at NBC Local Media New York.
From March 2008 to June 2009, Burns served as Vice President of News and Content for WNBC. During that time, Burns spearheaded the station’s transformation from a news operation into a comprehensive content center, producing news and information on multiple platforms. Additionally, she led her team in the launch of NY Nonstop, WNBC’s groundbreaking 24-hour digital news, information and lifestyle channel.
Prior to joining WNBC, Burns was the Vice President of News for WRC, the NBC owned and operated station in Washington, D.C., from September 2003 to March 2008, the #1 news station in the market. She joined the NBC family in 1986 when she began working as a Line Producer for WMAQ, NBC’s owned and operated station in Chicago. While there, she moved into the role of Special Projects Producer, was promoted to Executive Producer, Assistant News Director, and then News Director in 2001. For a brief period during 1998, Burns went to work as an Executive Producer with the ABC owned station WLS in Chicago before returning to WMAQ in 1998.
Burns is an Emmy Award-winning producer and an active member of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ). She earned a bachelor’s degree in broadcasting from Loyola University in Chicago and began her career in 1981 at the CBS owned station WBBM in Chicago, where she was a desk assistant, news writer and producer.