WSET Changes News Directors, Moves Anchors

By Kevin Eck 

WSET has announced Bill Foy is leaving the Lynchburg-Roanoke, VA, ABC affiliate for a job at Virginia Tech and has named anchor Len Stevens as interim news director.

“Bill is the consummate professional,” WSET general manager Randy Smith said in a statement. “He and I have worked together since 1992 and he is one of the most experienced and highly regarded news professionals in the Commonwealth, if not the industry. Bill is one of a very small group of people in whom I have blind trust. I will miss him tremendously.”

Foy had been the news director at WSET since 2007. He’s also worked at WSPA in Spartanburg, SC, WBTV in Charlotte, NC, and WSLS in Lynchburg-Roanoke, VA, where he met current WSET GM Randy Smith. According to The Roanoke Times, Foy left television after working at WRIC in Richmond, VA. When Smith became the WSET GM, he persuaded Foy to join him as news director.

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Foy told the Times, “The only way I was ever going to work in television again was if I got the chance to work with Randy Smith.”

The station also announced Len Stevens will take over as as interim news director in early July. Stevens will continue anchoring the 5:30, 6:00, 7:00pm news, but will stop anchoring at 11:00pm.  The station has named Danner Evans as his replacement at 11:00pm.

“I can’t imagine a situation where the news department could be in better hands,” said Foy. “Len has so much respect staff-wide and so much passion for the business of broadcast journalism. Danner brings vitality and energy to our late newscast. It’s unlikely we’ll miss a beat.”

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