Dick Warsinske is named general manager of public KCTS-TV

Veteran Seattle TV executive Dick Warsinske, who was general manager of ABC affiliate KOMO-TV for 14 years, is now general manager of KCTS-TV, Seattle's PBS station. He will oversee just about everything – programming, production, Web and engineering, corporate development, and communications, according to a news release issued today. Warsinske also carries the title vice president of operations. He reports to KCTS CEO Bill Mohler.

Warsinske also worked at KING-TV, the NBC affililate, but he's best know for his years at locally owned KOMO. In an e-mail to friends, Warsinske wrote:

... I have already started working on advancing the station toward a multi-platform on-demand presenter and producer of compelling content.

KCTS 9 went through a financial crisis in 2002, and has emerged healthy and ready to take on the demands of a digital world.

I appreciate the support I have received since leaving KOMO TV. I have enjoyed my time off, but now its time to make a difference in the business I love.

KCTS emerged from a fiscal morass a couple of years ago, the low point of which was a $7.2 million debt accumulated under CEO Burnill Clark. Clark abruptly retired and Mohler was hired from KBTC-TV, the PBS affiliate in Tacoma, to put things right. A donor whose identity was not disclosed loaned the station $7 million in 2003. KCTS is in the black now, and "it's time to significantly accelerate our efforts to produce and distribute content that supports our community service mission," Mohler said in the news release the station issued today.

Warsinske is replacing Randy Brinson, who joined the station in 2003 and has stepped aside to be executive director of content development.

KCTS claims a weekly audience of 2.1 million people in Washington and British Columbia and also owns KYVE-TV in Yakima, Wash.