CINCINNATI – Victoria G. Regan, an innovative and award-winning television executive, has been appointed vice president and general manager of WEWS, the ABC affiliate in Cleveland and the first television station launched by The E. W. Scripps Company.
Regan, 49, joins the legendary station – known for pioneering a morning news and talk format that was the model for Good Morning America – on May 19. She will lead an organization that routinely is one of the top-ranked broadcasters in the nation’s 17th-largest media market.
“Viki is a distinguished and acclaimed broadcast executive who shares the Scripps belief that success in local television is the result of passionate focus on improving communities,” said Bill Peterson, senior vice president of the Scripps Television Station Group. “Her career is notable for the ‘viewer-centric’ news and programming she pursues, and I’m confident that the television audience in northeast Ohio will quickly feel the effect of Viki’s unwavering dedication to uniquely local content.”
Named by Broadcasting and Cable magazine as “one of the 10 women leaders to watch in the broadcasting industry,” Regan has been the vice president and general manager of WPBF, the ABC affiliate in West Palm Beach, Fla., since 1997.
During her tenure at WPBF, the station has received the Service to Children Radio and Television Award from the National Association of Broadcasters Educational Foundation in 2002, as well as the foundation’s Service to America Television Award in 2006. The latter award is presented to only one station in the country for its total commitment to community service. (WXYZ, the Scripps station in Detroit, won that prestigious award in 2005.)
From 1996 to 1997, Regan was the president and general manager of WDTN, formerly the ABC affiliate in Dayton. She served the previous two years as vice president and general manager of WBNG, the CBS affiliate in Binghamton, N.Y., as well as the vice president of programming for WBNG’s former corporate parent, Gateway Communications.
From 1981 through 1994 she held various programming, production, sales/marketing and station operation roles at WTAE (ABC), KDKA (CBS) and WQED (PBS) in Pittsburgh.
Regan currently serves on the board of directors for the Education Foundation of Palm Beach County, Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Community Leaders Advisory Panel, Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches, Northern Palm Beach County Chamber of Commerce, and Home Safe, a Florida-based program for foster children. She also is a founding board member and former president of Quantum House, a home for families whose children are being treated for serious medical conditions.
In the past she has served as a board member of United Way (in three states), The Salvation Army, Athena International and the AIDS Foundation, and as a National Trustee of Ronald McDonald’s Children’s Charities. She also has held leadership positions with the American Red Cross, The Pittsburgh Symphony, Wright State University, United Mental Health, the Northern Palm Beach County Chamber of Commerce and the Palm Beach County Business Development Board.
The native of Red Bank, N.J., received her bachelor’s degree from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. She and her husband, Tim, have three children.
About Scripps
The E. W. Scripps Company (NYSE: SSP) is a diverse and growing media enterprise with interests in national cable networks, newspaper publishing, broadcast television stations, interactive media, and licensing and syndication.
The company’s portfolio of media properties includes: Scripps Networks, with such brands as HGTV, Food Network, DIY Network, Fine Living and Great American Country; daily and community newspapers in 15 markets and the Washington-based Scripps Media Center, home to the Scripps Howard News Service; 10 broadcast TV stations, including six ABC-affiliated stations, three NBC affiliates and one independent; Scripps Interactive Media, including leading online search and comparison shopping services, Shopzilla and uSwitch; and United Media, a leading worldwide licensing and syndication company that is the home of PEANUTS, DILBERT and approximately 150 other features and comics.