NEW YORK -- ABC tapped Joseph J. Ahern prexy and general manager of KGO-TV, the network's owned-and-operated station in San Francisco.
Ahern, who begins his new job April 6, succeeds Jim Topping, who retired from his post at KGO and will be working with ABC's Owned Stations Division.
Ahern, who has 26 years experience in television stations and international broadcasting, has been senior VP and managing director of broadcasting at Walt Disney Television Intl. in London since February 1997.
Previously, Ahern was president and general manager of WLS-TV, the ABC-owned station in Chicago; he was station manager from 1981-85. "The Oprah Winfrey Show" began as a local morning talkshow on WLS and went on to become the top syndicated talkshow in the U.S. and an important show for ABC's O&O stations. During Ahern's tenure, WLS become the No. 1 station in the market.
Ahern began his career with ABC in 1973 as a sales executive at WPVI-TV Philadelphia.
Contact the Variety newsroom at
news@variety.com