News Releases

Stacey Woelfel Becomes Chair of RTNDA; Educator Members Get Voting Rights

LAS VEGAS -- The RTNDA chairman's gavel was passed to Stacey Woelfel, news director at KOMU-TV in Columbia, Mo., at the close of RTNDA@NAB today. Outgoing chairman Ed Esposito, vice president of information media for Rubber City Radio Group in Akron, Ohio, becomes chairman of RTNDF, the educational arm of the association.
 
Members of the Radio-Television News Directors Association also elected Mark Kraham, news director of WHAG-TV in Hagerstown, Md., to serve as chairman-elect for 2009-2010. He will produce the 2010 RTNDA convention in Las Vegas.
 
Janice Gin, assistant news director, KTVU-TV, Oakland, Calif, and Dan Shelley, director of digital media, WCBSTV.com and WCBS-TV, New York, were elected directors-at-large and will serve two-year terms.
 
Members also endorsed a bylaws change to extend voting rights to educator members working with campus news media or electronic web sites. Until 2005 only newsroom managers could vote in RTNDA elections or on bylaws changes. Voting rights were extended to all news staff in that year. The Board of Directors voted in December to include educators among voting members, a bylaws change that required member approval.
 
Regional directors were elected earlier this year. They will serve two-year terms and include:
 
Region 2 is represented by Robert Long, vice president and news director, KNBC-TV, Los Angeles.
 
Region 7 will be represented by Vincent Duffy, news director, Michigan Radio, Ann Arbor, MI.
 
Region 11 is represented by Lane Beauchamp, New York.
 
Regions 12 and Region 13 are vacant and will be filled by appointment by the chairman.
 
Representatives elected to the RTNDA board also serve as RTNDF trustees. A complete list of board members is available here.
 
RTNDA is the world's largest professional organization devoted exclusively to electronic journalism. RTNDA represents local and network news professionals in broadcasting, cable and digital media in more than 20 countries.