WDIV's Wasserman Heading South

WDIV Detroit boss Steve Wasserman is moving on, reports the Detroit Free Press, and Post-Newsweek Stations CEO Alan Frank will take over the NBC station. Wasserman says he’s eager to return to warmer climes. "Given my many years in the sunbelt, my wife and I are anxious to return to that lifestyle," he said in a statement.

WDIV has been the longtime leader in Motown, but has seen its advantage shrink of late. According to BIA Financial, the station was tops in Detroit in 2006 with $102.5 million, ahead of WXYZ’s $100.7 million. But WXYZ essentially ran the table in the November book, winning primetime, total day and evening news, and taking late news over WDIV by a hair. 

I interviewed Steve just the other day for a profile of the Detroit TV market. Funny, he didn’t mention his pending departure.