Fates & Fortunes

Broadcast TV

Rob Ewert, general sales manager, WFSB(TV) Hartford, Conn., named VP/group sales manager, Meredith Broadcast Group, Des Moines, Iowa.

Blaine Rominger, general sales manager, KMEX-TV Los Angeles, joins KTVU(TV) Oakland, Calif. in the same capacity.

Greg Rando, senior promotion producer, WBAL-TV Baltimore, promoted to assistant promotions manager.

Cable TV

Brian K. Gruber, president, Principals.com, San Francisco, joins Charter Communications Inc., Long Beach, Calif., as VP, marketing and sales, Western region.

Sherryl Love, VP, procurement and administration, Kinder Morgan, Lakewood, Colo., named VP, materials management, Cox Communications Inc., Atlanta.

Programming

Lauren Zalaznick, senior VP, original programming and development, VH1, New York, named president, Trio, and executive VP, emerging networks, Universal Television, New York.

Holly Jacobs, senior VP, programming and development, Buena Vista Productions, Burbank, Calif., promoted to executive VP.

Sandra Dewey, senior VP, business affairs, Turner Network Television, Los Angeles, named senior VP, originals.

Regina DiMartino, senior VP, marketing and promotion, ABC Daytime, Burbank, Calif., named senior VP, marketing, advertising and promotion, ABC Family Channel.

Evan Shapiro, VP, marketing, Court TV, New York, promoted to senior VP.

Katherine Lauderdale, senior VP, strategic partnerships/general counsel, Window to the World Communications Inc., Chicago, named senior VP/general counsel, Public Broadcast Service, Alexandria, Va.

At Fox Cable Networks Group, Los Angeles: Jessica Fang, manager, financial planning, Califa Entertainment Group, Sherman Oaks, Calif., joins as manager, national accounts, affiliate sales and marketing; Mary K. Fitzgerald, law clerk, National Football League, New York, joins as manager, affiliate business affairs; Lance Reiss, marketing manager, acquisition marketing national accounts, DirecTV, Los Angeles, joins as manager, affiliate marketing entertainment, affiliate sales and marketing.

Rebecca O'Sullivan, senior VP, strategic planning, Fox Sports and Fox Sports Net, Los Angeles, named VP/GM, Fox Sports Arizona, Phoenix.

At Starz Encore Group: Scott Lopez, director, Charter Communications account, St. Louis, promoted to division VP; John Ruff, division VP, Charter account, St. Louis, named division VP, Time Warner Cable account, Stamford, Conn.

Jennifer Buzzelli, VP, international sales, Beyond Distribution, New York, named acquisitions executive, Crown Media International/ Hallmark Channel, New York.

Journalism

Bonnie Bleidt, senior adviser, Financial Perspectives Planning Service Inc., Boston, named reporter, Boston Stock Exchange Report, WBZ-TV Boston.

At KNXT-TV Phoenix: Joe Hengenmuchler, freelance executive producer, named 10 p.m. executive producer; AdamSymson, freelance producer, I-Team, named executive producer, investigations and special reports; Matt Knisely, photojournalist, KTUL-TV Tulsa, Okla., joins in the same capacity.

Radio

Jerry McKenna, executive VP/regional VP, Citadel Communications, Las Vegas, named VP, marketing manager, Entercom Communications, Denver.

Leslie C. Bauer, chief information officer, U.S. Foodservice, Baltimore, joins Radio One Inc., in the same capacity.

Advertising/Marketing/PR

Mark Turner, VP/GM, WCCB(TV) Charlotte, N.C., appointed senior VP/COO, Millennium Sales & Marketing, New York.

Brian Knox, VP/managing director, Katz Urban Dimensions, New York, named VP/director, diversity, Katz Media Group, New York.

Satellite

Tim Evard, co-founder, Road Runner High Speed Data Service, Time Warner Cable, Stamford, Conn., joins WSNet, Austin, Texas, as senior VP, sales and marketing.

Obituary

Howard Merrill, a radio and television writer, died April 20 at a hospital in Los Angeles. He was 85.

Merrill, a native New Yorker, contributed scripts to radio as a teenager. He would go on to write for television programs and comedy shows, including I Love Lucy, Gilligan's Island
and The Odd Couple.

In partnership with Allan Sherman, he created the game show I've Got a Secret, which debuted in 1952 and ran for 15 years.

Merrill was noted in Ripley's Believe It or Not
for being in 58 silent films before he was 11 years old and for making 487 radio broadcasts on 38 shows by age 14.

He is survived by his wife, Toni Gilbert, and a daughter, Adrienne.