NBC LOCAL MEDIA REORDERS MANAGEMENT TEAM

Frank Comerford becomes president, platform development and commercial operations; Larry Wert is now president, Central & Western Region; and Tom O’Brien is president-GM of WNBC New York.
By
TVNewsCheck,

NBC Local Media today announced a realignment in the leadership team, promoting Frank Comerford to president, platform development and commercial operations; Larry Wert to president, Central & Western Region; and Tom O’Brien to president and general manager of WNBC New York. 

All three positions will continue to report directly to John Wallace, president of NBC Local Media, and are effective immediately.

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“This is the next step in our evolution as a local media business,” said Wallace.

“Over the last eight months we’ve acquired LX.TV and Skycastle Entertainment, boosted our Out of Home offerings and invested heavily in our digital expansion. Our new business model requires a new structure, and I’m pleased we can tap into our current leadership to realign our organization and accelerate our transformation into full-service, multi-platform media providers.”

Comerford, who was president and GM of WNBC, will now oversee all NBC Local Media sales efforts, including the group’s 10 television stations, out-of-home sales and digital media sales. 

He will also develop new partnerships and business ventures that help align the group’s digital expansion to the changing needs of its customers. Mark Lund, EVP of Local Media Sales and Tina Silvestri, who was recently promoted to SVP of sales operations, will continue in their current roles and report to Comerford.

Wert, who most recently was president and general manager of WMAQ Chicago, will now oversee five NBC-owned television stations in the Central and Western regions of the country: KNBC Los Angeles, KNTV San Francisco, KNSD San Diego, KXAS Dallas and WMAQ. 

The GMs of each of those stations will report directly to him. 

Wert will continue to lead WMAQ and will announce a new station manager, reporting directly to him, in the near future.

Tom O’Brien, who has been president and general manager of KXAS Dallas, will move to New York and assume responsibly for WNBC. He’ll oversee all aspects of the flagship television station, including news, sales, digital platforms, programming and marketing. A replacement for O’Brien at KXAS will be announced later.

During his five-year tenure at NBC, Comerford oversaw WNBC’s conversion to HD, expanded its local community partnerships and increased its locally produced content, including the programs Mike’d Up and Reel Talk.

He also introduced the recently acquired LX.TV into the company. Comerford was promoted to that role after serving as executive VP of sales and marketing for the NBC Television Stations Division for three years. He joined WNBC in 1994 and held various positions of increasing responsibility within the sales group, culminating in his 1996 promotion to VP of the department.

Wert joined WMAQ in 1998, adding oversight of Telemundo Chicago in 2000. During his tenure, Wert helped orchestrate NBC Local Media’s acquisition of Skycastle Entertainment, unveiled what NBC said was the country’s first bilingual co-located newsroom and led the launch of Chicago’s first television street-side studio.

Before that, Wert was the SVP of Chancellor Broadcasting, overseeing 13 radio properties in Chicago and Detroit. He also served as president of Evergreen Media Corporation and held various sales positions in the ABC television stations group and at WLS Chicago.

O’Brien joined KXAS in 2001. While there, he positioned the station as a regional operating center for the stations group, creating the local NBC and Telemundo duopoly, building the Ft. Worth-based Telemundo Production Center and championing the creation of the Art House graphics hub.

He was promoted to that role after serving as the GM of WVIT, NBC’s owned-station in Hartford, Conn., for five years.

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