Severino Resigns General Manager Post at KABC-TV

John E. Severino, the controversial, longtime general manager of KABC-TV, has resigned, The Times has learned.

“Mr. Severino is going to be leaving the station,” said KABC program director Don Corsini. “There has been no announcement yet, but there will be one shortly. I can’t say any more at this time.”

Severino did not return a number of calls from a Times reporter Tuesday. However, sources said his resignation was announced to the KABC staff earlier in the day.

Several sources at KABC said Severino will be leaving the station within the next two weeks to take the position of president and chief operating officer of Prime Ticket, the cable-TV sports network that airs the Los Angeles Lakers basketball games and the Los Angeles Kings hockey games.

A spokeswoman for Prime Ticket said that she was unable to confirm the Severino hiring. Prime Ticket is owned by Denver cable entrepreneur Bill Daniels and Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss.

Severino, 51, joined the staff of KABC in 1965 and became general manager in 1974. At that time, the ABC network-owned station was a distant third in the ratings race for local news programming, behind KNBC and KNXT, now known as KCBS. During Severino’s tenure, KABC climbed out of the cellar and into a perennial first-place position.

In 1981, Severino was named president of ABC Television in New York, but he returned to his old position at KABC three years later.

Under Severino’s tutelage, KABC pioneered the Eyewitness News “family” concept, which many media critics have charged is heavy on sensational, headline-grabbing stories but light on content. The station, however, became one of the most profitable in the country.