News Corp. unites duopoly stations under single G.M.
Clayton, Boylan and Hale tapped
In one of the first moves following the FCC's approval of News Corp.'s acquisition of Chris-Craft's TV stations, the general managers of the Fox stations in Gotham, Los Angeles and Phoenix will now run both the Fox and former Chris-Craft outlets, insiders said Monday.
In New York, Jim Clayton, who recently left Fox's Detroit station for WNYW New York, will now run both WNYW and former Chris-Craft station WWOR. Vet WWOR general manager Robert Qudeen is out.
David Boylan will run KTTV Los Angeles and former Chris-Craft station KCOP, with KCOP's David Woodcock exiting.
And Kevin Hale will run KSAZ and former Chris-Craft outlet KUTP in Phoenix, with KUTP's Bob Furlong leaving.
The moves, about which a News Corp. spokeswoman would not comment, are par for the course when merging station groups.
When, for example, Viacom merged the Paramount Station Group outlets (now UPN stations) and CBS O&Os, creating several duopolies, the company followed a model akin to local marketing agreements in organizing its duopolies, with one station in the marketplace overseeing some aspects of the secondary outlet.
