Hammel exits WJLA

Only weeks after a merger with co-owned cable operation Newschannel 8 created
the region's biggest TV news department, WJLA-TV news director Steve Hammel
announced he will be leaving the Washington, D.C., area for an as-yet-disclosed
management job in another market.

Hammel's tenure with the station has been an eventful one, including the Sept. 11
attack on the Pentagon, the recent sniper shootings, the death of popular anchor
Dale Solly and the merger of operations with Allbritton Communications Co.-owned Newschannel 8 in
Virginia.

While WJLA-TV has not taken WRC-TV's local ratings crown, numbers have
improved, and in 2001, the station earned the only "A" grade in the area from the
Project for Excellence in Journalism.