Media General Promotes Marilyn Hammond, Andrew Lobred to New Leadership Positions

RICHMOND, Va., Aug. 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Media General, Inc. (NYSE:MEG) announced today that Marilyn L. Hammond has been named Vice President-Broadcast Sales and Marketing, and Andrew J. Lobred has been named Vice President-Digital Media, effective immediately.

In her new role, Ms. Hammond will work collaboratively with Media General's 18 television stations to achieve the company's objectives for revenue and market share growth across all properties.  Ms. Hammond will also oversee central traffic operations and programming for Media General's television stations. 

In his new role, Mr. Lobred leads Media General's growing digital business.  He will work collaboratively with the company's 18 television stations on digital revenue goals and develop digital products that meet advertiser needs.  He also will lead the company's initiatives to leverage technology opportunities to their fullest now, and as the industry evolves, into the future.  Mr. Lobred is also responsible for central graphics operations for all 18 stations. 

"I am delighted to promote two seasoned and effective sales and operating executives to these key new roles," said Marshall N. Morton, president and chief executive officer of Media General.  "Marilyn has a long track record of success for leading revenue growth across multiple media platforms, especially on the broadcast side of our business, through market-driven strategies and innovative solutions.  Andy was the architect and leader of a sales force transformation, designed to turn all of our sellers into masters of multimedia, skilled in selling emerging digital products, an initiative that has resulted in significant digital and mobile revenue growth for Media General. We look forward to continued strong revenue growth at our stations and on our digital and mobile platforms under the leadership of Marilyn and Andy," said Mr. Morton.

Ms. Hammond and Mr. Lobred will report to James F. Woodward, Vice President-Chief Financial Officer.  Also reporting to Mr. Woodward are Donna Reed, Vice President-Content, and Mark Turner, Vice President-Broadcast Technology.

Mr. Woodward said, "Media General is committed to increasing broadcast cash flow.  Key initiatives to drive the increase across all 18 stations will include revenue and market share growth, creating content that attracts new audience across station, digital and mobile platforms, and increasing the amount of inventory that will meet the needs of our advertisers. All initiatives will be supported by our technology team.  Marilyn, Andy, Donna and Mark will work together to lead initiatives that benefit all of our stations and can be scaled across all markets.  I look forward to working with this outstanding leadership team as we provide our stations with the best available solutions," he said.

Ms. Hammond most recently served as President, Market Leader – North Carolina, from 2010 through the end of the second quarter of 2012.  Before that, she had been vice president, sales operations for all of Media General's platforms, including television stations, newspapers and related web sites, since July 2009.  She was vice president of sales for Media General's Broadcast Division from 2007 to 2009.  She joined Media General at its WSPA (Greenville/Spartanburg, S.C.) station in 1997 as local sales manager, and was promoted to national sales manager in 2000.  She was general sales manager for WSPA from 2001 to 2007.  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. Lobred has been vice president, sales and marketing – Digital Media, since 2009.  He joined Media General in 2006 as vice president of sales and marketing for the Interactive Media Division. Prior to joining Media General, Mr. Lobred had been vice president of product management and marketing for Cavalier Telephone since 2002. Prior to that, he was vice president of sales and product marketing for NetTelcos, director of sales/marketing for Broadslate Networks/Network Access Solutions, and district sales manager for Hekimian Laboratories, Inc. He previously held sales and marketing management positions at AT&T, from 1993 to 1998. He began his career as a sales representative at The Washington Post. Mr. Lobred received an undergraduate degree from James Madison University and an M.B.A from Seton Hall University.

Photos are available of all executives named in this release.

About Media General
Media General is a leading provider of news, information and entertainment across 18 network-affiliated broadcast television stations and their associated digital media and mobile platforms.  The company's stations serve consumers and advertisers in strong local markets, primarily in the Southeastern United States. Media General's network affiliates include eight NBC stations, eight CBS stations, one ABC station and one CW station.  Six of the company's stations operate in the Top 40 markets in the United States.  Media General's stations reach more than one-third of TV households in the Southeast and more than 8 percent of U.S. TV households.  Media General entered the television business in 1955 when it launched WFLA-TV in Tampa, Florida, as an NBC affiliate.  Today, WFLA is the company's largest TV station, operating in the 14th largest DMA in the United States.  Media General continues to own The Tampa Tribune and its associated print properties and expects to enter into a transaction with one of several prospective buyers for the group.

Contact Us
Additional information about Media General is available on its web site www.mediageneral.com or by contacting Lou Anne J. Nabhan, Vice President-Corporate Communications, at (804) 649-6103 or [email protected].

SOURCE Media General, Inc.