Media General Names Marilyn Hammond, Dan Bradley as New Market Leaders; Jim Conschafter to Assume Leadership in Virginia/Tennessee

RICHMOND, Va., Nov. 4, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Media General, Inc. (NYSE: MEG) announced today that Marilyn L. Hammond has been named president and market leader, North Carolina, effective January 1, 2011.  Dan Bradley has been named president and market leader, Ohio/Rhode Island, effective immediately.  In her new role, Ms. Hammond will succeed James R. Conschafter, who will become president and market Leader, Virginia/Tennessee.  In his new role, Mr. Conschafter will succeed James A. Zimmerman, who plans to retire after 35 years with Media General, effective December 31, 2010.

"We are pleased to promote Marilyn Hammond and Dan Bradley into new roles as leaders of two of Media General's geographic market segments.  In their new roles, Marilyn and Dan will have responsibility for all of the company's media platforms within their respective markets.  Marilyn has done an outstanding job as our vice president, sales operations, helping to lead the transformation of our sales staffs to full multimedia sellers.  Today, we offer our customers one-stop shopping with a single sales representative for all of our advertising products and media platforms.  Dan has a long history of leading our multimedia journalism practices, and, more recently, he has done an excellent job as vice president and general manager of our NBC affiliate in Columbus, Ohio," said Marshall N. Morton, president and chief executive of Media General.  "Jim Conschafter has been an outstanding market leader to our North Carolina properties and we are pleased to move him to the leadership of our Virginia/Tennessee local media groups," said Mr. Morton.

"Jim Zimmerman has served Media General well in a number of key leadership roles since he joined the company in 1975.  He started with us as director of internal audit and rose to become president of the Broadcast Division in 1996.  During his tenure as division president, Media General's group of broadcast television stations grew from three stations to today's total of 18.  More recently, Jim has been instrumental in the success of our change from a platform-based operating structure to a market-based structure, focused first on customers and their rapidly changing needs for news and information," said Mr. Morton.

Ms. Hammond has been vice president, sales operations, Digital Media since July 2009.  Prior to that, she had been vice president of sales for Media General's Broadcast Division since 2007.  She was general sales manager for WSPA-TV, Media General's CBS affiliate in Spartanburg, S.C., from 2001 - 2007.  She joined WSPA in 1997 as local sales manager, and was promoted to national sales manager in 2000.  Prior to joining Media General, Ms. Hammond held several sales management positions at WLOS-TV in Asheville, N.C., KXXV-TV in Waco, Texas and KXAN-TV in Austin.

Mr. Bradley moved to Columbus in April 2009 to become director of digital journalism and content for WCMH-TV.  He was named general manager of the station in June 2009.  Prior to moving to WCMH, he was vice president of news for Media General's Broadcast Division from 2001 to April 2009.  Before assuming the division-level role, Mr. Bradley had been vice president and news director at WFLA-TV, Media General's top-rated NBC affiliate in Tampa, Fla., where he had worked in various news capacities since 1979.  Before joining Media General, he worked at network affiliated stations in Dayton and Toledo.  An Ohio native, he is a graduate of the University of Toledo and attended The Ohio State University.

Mr. Conschafter has been president and market leader, North Carolina, since July 2009.  Prior to that, he had been senior vice president, Broadcast Stations for the Broadcast Division, with oversight responsibilities for nine stations, since 2004.  He previously served as vice president and general manager of WSPA, WASV and WNEG.  Before joining Media General in 2000, he held management positions at network-affiliated television stations in North Carolina, New York, Missouri and Ohio.  He is a graduate of the Newhouse School of Communications at Syracuse University.

Mr. Zimmerman has been president and market Leader, Virginia/Tennessee, since July 2009.  Prior to that, he had served as president of the Broadcast Division since 1996.  He became a vice president of Media General in 2001.  He previously served as president and general manager of WFLA.  Before that, he was comptroller of WFLA.  He joined the company in 1975 as director of Internal Audit.  He is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University.

About Media General

Media General is a leading provider of news, information and entertainment across multiple media platforms, serving consumers and advertisers in strong local markets, primarily in the Southeastern United States.  Media General's operations are organized in five geographic market segments and a sixth segment that includes the company's interactive advertising services and certain other operations.  The company's operations include 18 network-affiliated television stations and their associated websites, three metropolitan and 20 community newspapers and their associated websites, and more than 200 specialty publications that include weekly newspapers and niche publications targeted to various demographic, geographic and topical communities of interest.  Many of the company's specialty publications have associated websites.  Media General additionally operates three interactive advertising services companies:  Blockdot, which specializes in interactive entertainment and advergaming technologies; DealTaker.com, a coupon and shopping website; and NetInformer, a leading provider of wireless media and mobile marketing services.

SOURCE Media General, Inc.