Belo Creates Southwest Cluster
Posted on December 15, 2000
Belo has announced that it will create a Southwest operating cluster consisting of the Company's television stations, newspapers and cable news operations in Arizona and Southern California. The new cluster will be overseen by Donald F. (Skip) Cass, Jr.. He will assume his responsibilities in early 2001, reporting to Jack Sander, Belo's executive vice president/Media Operations. Cass is currently a senior vice president in charge of The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California. He also manages the Company's corporate communications activities, reporting to Robert W. Decherd, Belo's chairman, president and chief executive officer. Cass will continue to serve in that role.
In making the announcement, Sander said, ``As we've seen through our experience with Belo's Northwest and Texas clusters, the creation of a Southwest cluster will allow us to significantly extend and expand our business in the region. It also meets one of our goals to have publishing and broadcast work more closely together. Skip's background in broadcast and cable, together with his current responsibility for The Press-Enterprise, makes him the ideal person to oversee this extremely important initiative. With a very talented team of managers at these companies we have high expectations for new and innovative ways to grow our service, visibility and interests in Arizona and Southern California.''
Belo's media operations in Arizona include television stations KTVK-TV (IND) and KASW-TV (WB) in Phoenix, and KMSB (FOX) in Tucson. The Company also manages KTTU-TV (UPN) in Tucson under a local marketing agreement. Belo's regional cable channels include Mas! Arizona, a 24-hour Spanish-language cable news channel, and the Arizona NewsChannel, cable news joint ventures with Cox Cable. In Riverside, Belo publishes The Press-Enterprise with a daily circulation of 166,418 and 172,798 on Sunday, and La Prensa, a weekly Spanish-language publication.
Skip Cass, 35, was vice president and general manager of Texas Cable News from May 1998 until January 2000, launching the 24-hour cable news channel in January 1999. He previously worked in several operational and administrative roles with Belo, including local sales at Belo's WWL-TV in New Orleans, Louisiana; director of operations at Belo's NewsWatch on Channel 15 in New Orleans; manager/finance and administration, and director/cable news operations of Belo's Broadcast Division in Dallas. Cass earned his bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism from Louisiana State University in 1987 and graduated from Loyola University School of Law in 1991.