General manager Bob Simone and news manager Bob Richardson have both left Tucson Fox-affiliate KMSB in the aftermath of the station entering into a shared-services agreement with CBS-affiliate KOLD.
KMSB parent company Belo announced in November that news operations at the station would be shut down and taken over by Raycom Media’s KOLD. Belo cited a lack of advertising revenue as the reason for the transition.
Simone, who was named president and general manager of KMSB in 2009, told staffers he had not been retained, according to a station source. Both Richardson and Simone worked their last day at KMSB this week.
Richardson had been news manager at KMSB since 2003. He announced today that he is launching a media consulting company in Arizona called RAR Productions. The company will help businesses and organizations “with the news media, crisis management, event production or political messaging,” Richardson said in a statement.
Simone spent the majority of his career at Fox Television Stations in a variety of management roles. He is a former vice president and general manager for two of the company’s O&Os: KDVR in Denver and WTFX in Philadelphia. He plans to return to Philadelphia, where he owns a home that he has never sold.
The Tucson Sentinel reported last year that 40-50 KMSB staffers were expected to lose their jobs.