Powell rises at Weather Channel

Turner’s PR whiz, Shirley Powell , is moving over to The Weather Channel, where she’ll serve as EVP of corporate communications.

In her new gig, Powell will serve as the company’s chief spokesperson, with all of The Weather Channel’s divisions under her purview, including mothership The Weather Channel Network, as well as weather.com, The Weather Channel Mobile and business-to-business division Weather Services International. The Weather Channel is partly owned by NBC Universal.

Powell will remain in Atlanta and report to CEO Michael Kelly.

As SVP of corporate communications for TBS, Inc., Powell oversaw the strategy, development and implementation of TBS’s external messaging and served as its chief spokesperson for networks and businesses such as CNN, TBS, TNT and Cartoon Network.  Powell departed Turner in December.

Prior to Turner, Powell was SVP of media relations for NBC in Burbank, Calif. She also was VP of media relations for the Disney Channel and Toon Disney. In 1992, Powell joined Cartoon Network, where she led publicity for the network’s launch and then spent five years helping the new network develop its brand.

Powell serves on the boards of directors of Girls Inc. of Greater Atlanta and Leadership Atlanta, and is a member of the Board of Visitors of Temple University’s School of Communications. She’s also involved with Women in Cable & Telecommunications (WICT), and has served on its national board.

Powell earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism at Temple University and resides in Marietta, Ga., with her family.

Paige Albiniak

Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.