ABC shuffles Coast pub staff

By VARIETY STAFF

ABC has announced a reorganization of its West Coast publicity department in the wake of the departure of several longtime staffers.

Sherrie Berger has been promoted to VP and director, program publicity and photography, while Craig Martinelli becomes director, broadcast publicity/special projects and Murray De'Atley and Suzanne Gordon become associate directors of photography and program publicity, respectively.

Eileen Kurtz has been named manager, program publicity.

The promotions follow a department shake-up under West Coast VP of public relations Jerry Hellard, who took over in December from Bob Wright after he opted for early retirement. Last month, veteran publicity staffers Rosalind Jarrett and Jim Brochu -- respectively, director of program publicity and manager of business information -- were let go as part of the web's on-going effort to reduce staff and overhead through contract buyouts and layoffs.

Berger has been at ABC since 1978 and was most recently director of publicity and advertising photography. Martinelli started at the web in 1984, De'Atley and Gordon both joined ABC in 1987 and Kurtz came aboard in July 1990.