GM Paul Sands to Retire From WPTZ-WNNE; WPBF News Director Tapped as Replacement

By Merrill Knox 

Paul Sands, president and general manager of Hearst Television’s WPTZ-WNNE in Plattsburgh-Burlington, has announced his retirement.

Sands will be succeeded by Kyle Grimes, who is currently the news director at another Hearst station, WPBF in Palm beach. The move is return to WPTZ-WNNE for Grimes, who was news director at the stations from 2005-08.

In a statement announcing the moves, Hearst president and CEO David Barrett said the management transition “takes on special significance, with Kyle Grimes succeeding his one-time mentor Paul Sands at the helm of our stations.”

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Sands will stay on for the next few months during the transitional period, according to the statement.

“We are confident that [Grimes will] be an outstanding successor to Paul who, along with his talented team at WPTZ/WNNE, has done such an excellent job serving the communities and advertisers in the Plattsburgh, NY/Burlington, VT regions,” Barrett said.

Prior to his first stint at WPTZ-WNNE, Grimes was a producer at KCRA-KQCA in Sacramento. He began his career at KSBW in Salinas.

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