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Tribune Names New Publisher at The
Baltimore Sun
News
veteran, Denise Palmer, will assume post in September
Current
publisher, Michael Waller, to become chairman, retire in January
CHICAGO,
July 10, 2002 -- Tribune
Company (NYSE: TRB) today
announced that Denise Palmer has been named president, publisher
and chief executive officer of The Baltimore Sun. Mike Waller,
The Sun's current publisher, will become chairman of the newspaper
and plans to retire in January. Both changes will become effective
Monday, September 23.
"Mike
Waller has been a terrific publisher of The Baltimore Sun
and a wonderful partner in the integration of the Tribune
and Times Mirror newspapers," said Jack Fuller, president
of Tribune Publishing Co. "Denise is a gifted executive
with deep experience in newspapers, radio and television and
a real feeling for the journalistic heart of the news business."
Palmer
joins The Sun from ChicagoLand Television (CLTV), Chicago's
only all-news cable channel, where she has been president
and chief executive officer since 2000. Before that, she served
as vice president/development, strategy and finance at the
Chicago Tribune from 1998-2000, with responsibility for accounting
and financial reporting, operational and strategic planning
and development of new products and services. Palmer was also
responsible for ¡Exito!, the Chicago Tribune's free
weekly Hispanic publication. From 1994-1998, she held a variety
of executive finance and strategy positions with the newspaper.
"The
Baltimore Sun is one of the best newspapers in America with
a rich history of editorial excellence," said Palmer.
"Baltimore is a wonderful market-I look forward to serving
our 1.1 million weekly readers and loyal advertisers."
Palmer
joined Tribune in 1980 as a corporate auditor. In 1983, she
became a planning analyst and in 1986 was named manager of
planning for Tribune Company. In 1988, Palmer transferred
to WGN Radio as director/finance and was promoted to station
manager in 1993. She became director/finance for the Chicago
Tribune in 1994. Before joining Tribune, Palmer was a senior
auditor at Coopers & Lybrand in Dayton, Ohio.
Mike
Waller has been president, publisher and chief executive officer
of The Sun since October 1997. Before that, he held a variety
of positions at The Hartford Courant. From 1986-1997, he served
as executive editor and vice president, editor and publisher.
From 1978-1986, he worked as managing editor, then editor
of The Kansas City Star and The Kansas City Times.
From
1967-1978, Waller worked at The Courier-Journal and The Louisville
Times as chief of the copy desk, executive sports editor and
assistant managing editor. He began his newspaper career in
1961 as a sports clerk at The Decatur Herald.
"It's
been a joy and privilege serving The Sun and the Baltimore
community," said Waller, who is a member of a dozen non-profit
community boards. "I've had a terrific newspaper career
and am pleased to be working with Denise in forging a smooth
transition."
David
Underhill replaces Palmer as chief executive officer of CLTV,
overseeing long-term strategy, development and operations.
He will also continue in his current capacity as Tribune's
vice president/intergroup development.
"Cable
continues to be an exciting and challenging medium that offers
Tribune substantial future growth," said Underhill. "CLTV
is the Chicago region's only 24-hour cable news channel and
reaches more than 1.6 million homes. I look forward to continuing
its quality programming and to further developing cross-media
opportunities with our other Chicago news outlets."
Underhill
was appointed to his intergroup development role in October
1999 and is responsible for advancing the company's multimedia
strategies among publishing, broadcasting and interactive
business units through cross-group teams that facilitate the
sharing of journalism, program content, cross-promotion and
multimedia sales. From 1997-1999, he served as vice president/video
and audio for Tribune Publishing, and helped to oversee the
launch of Central Florida News 13, the cable news channel
owned jointly by Tribune's Orlando Sentinel and Time Warner
Communications.
As
the responsibilities of the intergroup team expand, Barbara
Weeks will join that department as director/intergroup development.
Since 2000, Weeks has served as VP/operations of Tribune Interactive,
where she oversaw the online operations in Tribune's local
newspaper markets.
Weeks
joined the company in 1993, and from 1997-2000 directed operations
at CLTV, first as vice president/general manager and later
as president and chief executive officer.
::
:: ::
TRIBUNE
(NYSE: TRB) is one of
the country's premier media companies, operating businesses
in broadcasting, publishing and on the Internet. It reaches
more than 80 percent of U.S. households, and is the only media
company with television stations, newspapers and Web sites
in the nation's top three markets. Tribune media span 23 major-market
television stations, including national superstation WGN-TV;
12 market-leading daily newspapers, including the Los Angeles
Times, Chicago Tribune and Newsday; and news and information
Web sites in 18 of the nation's top 30 markets. |
