Kirk Black

Senior VP, Meredith Local Media Group

By Michael Malone -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/7/2011 12:01:00 AM

Meredith Local Media management sees a rising star in Kirk Black and continues to expand his leadership responsibilities. Black has been on a fast track at Meredith since he joined the company as general manager of WNEM Flint- Saginaw in 1998, shifting to Kansas City in 2001 to run two stations, then adding a senior VP title in 2008 with additional oversight of Meredith’s stations in Portland, Ore., and Las Vegas.

Realizing he had Top Ten-market talent, Meredith Local Media President Paul Karpowicz in 2009 moved his star GM to WGCL Atlanta, Meredith’s flagship. Black rebranded the station as CBS Atlanta, remade the newsroom, and has posted best-ever ratings in multiple dayparts for the longtime also-ran. He also helped launch a hub out of his Atlanta facility, with traffic, master control, business functions and research operations for eight Meredith stations centralized at WGCL. Meredith brass lets Black identify and cultivate creative new business opportunities, such as a recent deal with Turner Broadcasting for WGCL to manage Turner’s WPCH, known as Peachtree TV.

Black also serves as vice chairman of the CBS affiliate board. In case the affable young GM didn’t have enough on his plate each day, Black has six children to boot.