Fates & Fortunes

What's your fate?

Send it to Llanor Alleyne, editorial assistant, Broadcasting & Cable (e-mail: palleyne@reedbusiness; fax: 646-746-7028; mail: 360 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10010).

Cable TV

Kimberly Kerns, director, corporate communications, Cablevision Systems Corp., Bethpage, N.Y., promoted to VP.

At Adelphia Communications: David Knudsen, president, 9Point5 Inc., Austin, Texas, joins as VP, finance, Woodland Hills, Calif.; Martha Hudak, franchising and regulatory staff attorney, Coudersport, Pa., named regional counsel.

At Bright House Networks, Orlando, Fla.: Anne Ragsdale, regional VP, advertising sales, Southeast region, Time Warner Cable, Central Florida, joins as group VP, advertising; Steve Stiger, VP, marketing and business development, Florida division, named group VP, marketing and business development and senior marketing executive; Elliott Wiser, VP, news programming, Time Warner Cable, Tampa Bay, Fla., joins as group VP, news programming.

Programming

Maggie Malina, VP, original movies, television, MTV Networks, promoted to senior VP.

Greg Yen, VP, finance, Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution, Los Angeles, promoted to senior VP.

At The Weather Channel, Atlanta: Terry Connelly, senior VP, programming, production and operations, promoted to senior VP/GM; Gus Lalone, executive producer, promoted to VP/managing editor; Janet Johnson, executive producer, promoted to VP, long-form program production and scheduling; Keith Weserlage, director, on-camera meteorology, promoted to VP; Nathan Smith, senior director, broadcast operations, promoted to VP, broadcast operations; Chris Samsury, director, weather strategy, data, promoted to senior director, operational weather graphics.

At Nickelodeon, Santa Monica, Calif.: Steve Keller, executive director, live-action production, promoted to VP, live-action development and production; Eric Coleman, executive director, production, promoted to VP, animation development and production.

Justin Pettigrew, director, public relations, Turner Classic Movies, Atlanta, promoted to VP.

Sean Fassett, manager, research, Independent Film Channel, New York, promoted to director.

Francie Calfo, senior VP, drama department, Touchstone Pictures, Los Angeles, exits the studio to rejoin as an independent producer.

At the Inspiration Networks, Charlotte, N.C.: Sandra Ferguson, regional manager, affiliate relations, Universal Television, New York, joins as affiliate director, Mid-Atlantic region; Chris Hill, manager, contracts department, Grom Associates, Flemington, N.J., joins as manager, legal services; Althia Gamble, editor, Omega Performance Corp., New York, joins as affiliate marketing manager, La Familia Network.

Journalism

At CBS-TV New York: Byron Harmon, executive producer, WTTG(TV) Washington, returns to the station as executive producer, News This Morning; Julie Iannuzzi, executive producer, News This Morning, named executive producer, planning; Kimberly Dozier, chief correspondent, Middle East Bureau, Jerusalem, named correspondent, Tel Aviv, Israel.

Amy Robach, anchor, Fox 5 News at Noon, WTTG(TV) Washington, and Contessa Brewer, reporter/anchor, KNXV-TV Phoenix, join MSNBC, Secaucus, N.J., as anchors.

Ryan Field, sports reporter, WJBK(TV) Detroit, joins Fox Sports Net, Detroit Sports Report, as correspondent.

Technology

John Rourke, VP, sports, HTN Communications, New York, promoted to executive VP/COO.

Bill Baker, VP/director, sales, AE Business Solutions, Madison, Wis., joins Weather Central Inc., Madison, as executive VP.

Media

John Alexander, music marketing manager, Jones Media Networks, Nashville, Tenn., promoted to director, music marketing.

Associations/Law Firms

At the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers, Exton, Pa: Melissa Hicks, president, Mosaic Marketing, Boston, joins as VP, membership services and industry relations; Kimberly Maki, VP, public affairs, Time Warner Cable, Houston, joins as VP, marketing and communications.

Tim Davis, co-founder/managing partner, Brain Dump Unlimited, LLC, New York, joins Ad Council, New York, as executive VP, media.

Jim Matusoff, senior VP, marketing and sales, Adelphia Cable Communications, elected to the Board of Directors, Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing, Alexandria, Va.

Obituary

Roy Neal, NBC News correspondent for 38 years until his retirement in 1986, died Aug. 15 in High Point, N.C., from complications following heart surgery. He was 82.

Neal made a name for himself as a top-notch science reporter with a focus on NASA and the space program. He reported on every manned space flight from Alan Shepard's 1961 voyage through the first few shuttle missions. On the night of Apollo 13 crisis, Neal was the pool reporter chosen to go into NASA's mission-control room.

A ham-radio enthusiast, Neal in the early 1980s encouraged NASA to install ham radios on space shuttles so crew members could talk with their families, according to Greensboro, N.C.'s News & Record. The program became known as the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment, and Neal served as its chairman.

Born in Philadelphia, Neal, an Infantry lieutenant in the U.S. Army, got his start as a program manager for the Armed Forces Radio Network in occupied Germany during WWII. When he returned to Philadelphia, he first worked in radio before joining NBC in 1948. Four years later, he moved to Southern California to set up the network's West Coast bureau.

He is survived by his wife of 40 years, Pat, and two sons, Mark and David, the latter of whom is executive producer of NBC Olympics.