I Heard the News Today, Oh Boy

We have a new General Manager at KSHB and he's somebody I worked with before...a long time ago.

Mike Vrabac has been the GM at KJRH for the past four years...he's managed Tulsa's NBC affiliate for the most successful years at the station in the past twenty years or more. 

And yes, we have some history.

In 1994, I was a first-time ND at KJRH and Mike was the GSM.  I arrived in February, he left in October to go to KOTV (also in Tulsa).  I recall his wry sense of humor and that he talked about "inventory" and "cost per point."  I learned from and liked him. 

Until 1994 I had never attended a TV department head meeting and I struggled to find my way with not one but two consultants, each breathing different messages in my ears.  Add to that, a disfunctional relationship with the GM.  We didn't have a shared vision. Fresh off of four years at WSVN in Miami,  I wanted to make my mark as the Queen of Breaking News, an unlikely goal in our quiet corner of Oklahoma (until the Murrah Building got blown up).  Meanwhile, my boss wanted us to do most stories about the ballet and the library.  We were a terrible match.  Not his fault.  My lack of focus, naiveté and lack of common sense eventually got me fired in 1996.

I have often said that I probably should have been fired sooner.  I made every mistake a new manager makes and some of them more than once.  I lasted two years in Tulsa before taking the bullet.

(Rumor contol.  Mike Vrabac did not fire me from KJRH)

I'm excited about the possibilities!