Media Moves

Stephanie McNamara Bitis on Friday was sentenced to 15 months in a federal prison facility and has been ordered to pay $302,585.01 in restitution for using a credit card associated with her former role at Long Island Radio Broadcasting in order to pay for various personal expenses. They include expenses tied to a boat and for a trip to the Caribbean.

Remaining as chair is an attorney and partner at Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown, a firm specializing in entertainment and media matters, and was named one of the top 100 lawyers in California.

For 24 years, he'd been associated with a group of radio stations today owned by Audacy Inc. Now, he's resurfaced across the street to become General Sales Manager of Steel City Media's radio properties in the heart of Mid-America.

In 1982, Chris Berry became a Producer at KNX in Los Angeles. Today, Berry has a resume full of highlights, including stints at ABC News Radio, WBBM-AM in Chicago, a top Talker in the Nation's Capital and, since 2017, at iHeartMedia. The top brass at iHeart has just cemented Berry's place in the company by elevating him to an EVP role.

Starting Monday, iHeartMedia's Philadelphia radio stations will have a new SVP/Sales. It is an individual who is quite familiar with the company's stations in the Cradle of Liberty — he's been an SVP, GSM and National Sales Director for the audio brands and began his career at iHeart-owned Katz Radio.

Among the 2023 honorees are Debra OConnell, ABC News President Kim Godwin, an iHeartMedia C-Suite leader, and Chesley Maddox-Dorsey, who today is CEO of AURN and is a former owner of broadcast radio stations.

The local media monitoring business owned by iHeartMedia has promoted two individuals from within while welcoming a third individual to the organization as its new Director of Product Management.

He was a finalist for Radio Ink Market Manager of the Year in both 2019 and 2020 in recognition of time at the helm of iHeartMedia's Poughkeepsie, N.Y. radio stations. Since 2018, he's been running the company's Indianapolis stations as a Market President. Now, he's taken I-70 east to I-75 and traveled a couple of hours to Ohio's Gem City.

Starting Monday, two ABC affiliates in the Lone Star State owned by The E.W. Scripps Company will have a new VP/GM. It's an individual whose most recent TV industry role was as President/GM of the NBCUniversal-owned Telemundo affiliate serving Denver.

The Telemundo Station Group within NBCUniversal has shifted its leadership of its owned-and-operated Telemundo stations in three Southwestern U.S. markets. In one instance, the head of the Rio Grande Valley Telemundo station is adding oversight of the Houston station. In the other, the current head of sales at KTMD-TV in Houston is shifting her duties to a pair of other markets.

A partner in Wiley Rein's Telecom, Media & Technology (TMT) Practice has been elected Co-Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) Foundation. At the same time, another firm partner will serve as FCBA's Treasurer.

The Bakersfield, Calif.-headquartered radio broadcast company led by Rogers Brandon has parted ways with roughly 20 employees as part of a cost-cutting initiative. One high-profile air personality on California's Central Coast is telling his story to the press.