WEST PALM BEACH — In mid-October, RBR+TVBR first reported on the emergence of INYO Broadcast Holdings, which is grabbing 23 ION Media stations in order for that company’s merger with The E.W. Scripps Co. to gain federal regulatory approval.
On Thursday afternoon, its Executive Chairman was revealed. And, it’s an individual very familiar to veteran broadcast television leaders, given his many years at Journal Communications.
Taking the role is Steven J. Smith.
It’s hardly a surprise: RBR+TVBR reported in October that he was on the INYO board.
Smith retired as Chairman/CEO of Journal, which was sold to The E.W. Scripps Co., and held the role from 1998 through April 2015, when Journal was merged into Scripps.
Smith’s career spanned over 40 years, beginning with Journal’s broadcast division
in 1976. He served in general management roles at Journal’s radio and television
stations and eventually oversaw Journal Broadcast Group.
“Given his long tenure in the broadcast business, Steve is deeply immersed in the
community and the public responsibilities associated with being a local television
broadcaster,” said INYO CEO John Chachas. “He is highly respected in the
industry, and we look forward to benefiting from his decades of experience as we
build INYO.”
Chacas is the executive chairman of Gump’s, a San Francisco-based luxury jeweler. And, he spent the entire decade of the 1990s as a Managing Director of Media and Telecommunications at First Boston.
He is also a managing partner of Methuselah Advisors, an investment firm with over 30 years of experience in broadcast and other media interests that formed INYO.
Among those taking INYO board seats is veteran Hispanic media executive María Eugenia Ferré Rangel, a past president of Puerto Rico’s dominant newspaper, El Nuevo Día.
