KMOV/CBS4 ...where experience may mean nothing

Things are beginning to look bleak at the former CBS O&O.

Alan Cohen, who's been GM there since nearly the beginning of time (and, yes, I remember Alan's restaurant column in the STLBizJournal years ago well...just who was his mysterious companion?), is rumored to be retiring in the near future.

Word is that Cohen nominated two guys to current owner Belo as potential successors:  Bobby Totsch (created STL Country and other shows) and Jim Rothschild (a major confidante and developer of marketing and promo strategies).  But both have left the station, Totsch to Kansas City and Rothschild to the Carolinas.

If Belo expressed a lack of confidence in either or both of them and that's what forced their moves, it does not bode well for the future of the station.  It means that the company will bring in their own guy, who may or may not be familiar with the market and the talent, and that almost always spells disaster.

Net result might be sad impact on the news department.  And local TV news is bad enough as it is.

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