People in the News

Cox Media Group Ohio’s Market VP Julia Wallace is joining Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication as the Frank Russell Chair for the Business of Journalism. She begins teaching classes in January. Wallace announced her retirement at the end of June. She's staying on until the end of the year.

iHeartMedia has created a new position for radio vet Tony Banks. He's now Director of Talent Development for the company's Central Division. iHeart's Central Division includes 300 stations in 52 markets including Dallas, Houston, Denver, and Minneapolis, among others. Banks will be responsible for discovering and recruiting new on-air talent as well as coaching, training, and mentoring existing talent.

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced Tuesday that the Hollywood Walk of Fame Class of 2017 will include Premiere's syndicated host Elvis Duran. A date has not yet been set for Duran's star ceremony. Every recipient has two years to schedule star ceremonies from the date of selection before they expire. Duran recently celebrated 20 years on the air.

Lazer Broadcasting has named Lino Alvarez as GSM for its Oxnard/Ventura, Santa Barbara, and Santa Maria markets. Before joining Lazer, Alvarez served as V.P. of Sales for MundoFox in Los Angeles, GSM for Estrella TV in Los Angeles, and VP of Sales for NBC Telemundo in Arizona.

CBS's Country station in Detroit has a permanent midday host once again. Roxanne Steele has been filling in since Jack Shell left in January and now PD Tim Roberts says the gig is hers. "Roxanne is a proven winner and talented major market personality with a great friendly delivery that fits perfectly into the WYCD on-air Family."

News director and morning show co-host Shelia Hamilton at Alpha's KINK in Portland has signed an extension on a multi-year deal. The five-time Emmy-winner began her career in documentary film before producing and reporting two-decades of television investigative news for such television stations as Portland’s KATU and Salt Lake City's KTVX. She was also voted Best Radio Personality in 2013.

Chris Mosser will start hosting mornings on Emmis' KGSR-FM (AAA) starting Wednesday, July 6. Austin listeners might already recognize Mosser’s voice as he was most recently the AM Drive and Program Director for 103.1 iHeart Austin and PM Drive and Texas Regional Programming Director for KVET-FM.

Cumulus news station KARN in Little Rock reported on its website that anchor Donna Kelley passed away over the weekend from natural causes. She was 66. Market Manager Keith Liesmann wrote, "All of us at Cumulus are tremendously saddened by the sudden and shocking passing of Donna Kelley. Donna was an outstanding reporter/anchor who served with the highest degree of journalistic integrity at KARN for a decade and a half."

Melissa Harrison will join Mike Rogers and Scott Sams as co-anchor of the KRLD (Dallas) morning news beginning Friday, July 1. Harrison has worked as a television news reporter in New York, Dallas, Birmingham, Jackson, Waco, and Abilene. She was most recently a freelance reporter for KXAS-TV in Dallas.

WGN in Chicago has signed a contract extension with Steve Cochran through 2020. He's hosted mornings since 2013. Cochran has also worked early morning hours in Miami, Baltimore, St. Louis, Minneapolis, and New York City. The Cochran Morning Show team includes co-anchor and reporter Andrea Darlas, news by Steve Grzanich, sports by Dave Eanet, and traffic by Mary Van De Velde.