KCBS Hires Minneapolis General Manager for Its Own

KCBS-TV Channel 2, which has undergone numerous management switches and major upheavals in the newsroom during the last several years, has a new general manager who comes with an extensive background in news.

The appointment of John Culliton, who most previously was general manager of CBS-owned WCCO-TV in Minneapolis, was announced Tuesday by CBS and is effective immediately. Culliton is expected to formally take over next Monday from acting general manager John McKay.

Culliton, 35, who was instrumental in turning WCCO-TV into the top news station in the Minneapolis-St. Paul market, said he is looking forward to the challenge of taking over KCBS. He said he is intent on bringing his extensive news background and interest in strong investigative journalism to the beleaguered station.

“I don’t have any one thing that will work magic, but what I have is that the people here in Minneapolis trust me and trust management,” Culliton said Tuesday in an interview. “They may not always agree with me, but they trust me.”

Culliton has been vice president and general manager of WCCO since 1993. He joined the station in 1984 and held several positions, including executive sports producer, news director and executive director of news and public affairs.

News executives have praised Culliton for taking a viewer-friendly but substantive approach to news at WCCO. He created “Your News,” which asked viewers for feedback on certain issues, and he also started a summary of major news and headlines during the late news.

CBS Television Stations President Jonathan Klei said in a statement: “John Culliton has been a key reason that WCCO-TV Minneapolis is indisputably one of the nation’s great television stations. He’s an innovative broadcaster whose accomplishments have been recognized with numerous awards and the largest viewership in the market.”

Local news insiders indicated that Culliton will have his hands full in taking over KCBS. He will be the first permanent general manager to serve at KCBS since William Applegate left the post last December, not long after Westinghouse took over ownership of CBS.

His appointment ended a long search in which at least two general manager candidates declined to take the job, apparently scared off by the unstableness and scarred history of the station.

In the last several months, several of the station’s most popular and well-known news personalities, including veteran anchor Jerry Dunphy, consumer expert David Horowitz and weekend anchor Brad Goode, have left or were let go. In addition, other news mainstays, including noon anchor Tritia Toyota, have expressed unhappiness with their roles in the news operation.

The “Action News” format has been roundly criticized in the past for sloppy reporting and an emphasis on tabloid-type journalism and celebrity news.

Several on-camera and off-camera news employees have recently expressed concern about what they called low morale and lack of leadership at the station. But many others inside the station insisted that the news operation has begun to turn itself around under the stewardship of news director Larry Perret and with the tenacious efforts of several reporters, including investigative reporter Linda Breakstone.

Perret in March announced a major restructuring of the news operation, which will include the establishment next month of a morning news show.

Culliton said he was vaguely familiar with the spotted reputation of KCBS, but was sure the station had the talent to turn itself around. “It all comes down to the talent,” he said.