Leftovers after the long holiday weekend:
There has been plenty of news made by local TV staffers in front of and behind the camera.
A couple of former WIVB-TV (Channel 4) staffers have revealed their new destinations.
Jhas Williams, the reporter who left “Wake Up!” in late July, has landed as a weekday morning reporter at WFTS, the ABC affiliate in Tampa, Fla. The station has the same owner as WKBW-TV, the E.W. Scripps Company.
It is a big step up in market size for Williams. Tampa is a Top 15 TV market in the country. Buffalo is No. 52.
“From one temperature extreme to another,” she tweeted in making the announcement.
Gabrielle Mediak, the former Channel 4 reporter who left in late August, announced she has landed as a morning anchor in Harrisburg, Pa., which is just outside the top 40 TV markets in the country.
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Meanwhile, WGRZ-TV (Channel 2) reporter Liz Lewin exited the station late last week after more than two years without sharing her next destination. She had previously worked at WKBW-TV (Channel 7).
In a response via Twitter, Lewin told me she left because of “a combination of personal and professional reasons. That said, I have nothing but the utmost respect for the team – I’m the strongest journalist I have ever been, in large part, because of the work I have done here.”
Veteran Channel 2 anchor Scott Levin announced on social networks that he recently signed a new long-term deal to remain at the station he joined in 1998.
Maria Sisti, who has been at WGRZ for 40 years, exited her role as assignment editor last week.
In a tribute on Facebook, Channel 2 reporter Claudine Ewing wrote: “Not many people can do her job! She takes the hits – good and bad. It is because of her the newsroom at 259 Delaware was able to thrive. Institutional knowledge is something you have. No one can take that away from you. You did it all Maria Sisti. Thank you for 40 years ... thank you for being a woman who is still standing. You've earned the right to retire. We will miss you. We may go on, but it won't be the same.”
Former Channel 4 news director Lisa Polizzi has landed a new job outside the TV business. Polizzi, a Buffalo native who was fired by Channel 4 in May, is the executive communications manager and board liaison for Stark Tech, which describes itself as “a leader in optimizing facilities and energy sources, aligning technology with real world experience across a broad portfolio of capabilities. Stark is a single source for turnkey, comprehensive tech solutions for master systems integration, equipment, & renewable energy.”
In a release, the company said it “recently expanded its executive team and the board of directors to support initiatives and bring outside governance to the company.”
“Lisa will play a key role in ensuring corporate alignment, working directly with me, the executive team, and our board of directors,” Tim Geiger, President of Stark Tech, said in a release. “Her extensive background in communications will be leveraged as we achieve our strategic goals and initiatives.”
Polizzi is a SUNY Buffalo State College graduate who is working on an advanced degree from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communication and the Whitman School of Management.
