Passing the Buck in Buffalo
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A new GM at Nexstar's station in Buffalo is wasting no time throwing the old GM under the bus and it is a bit unfair.
AS FTVLive FIRST told you, Dominic Mancuso was hired as the GM at struggling WIVB.
The Buffalo News reports that since taking over, Mancuso has been busy filling the jobs that his predecessor, Rene LaSpina, left vacant.
Station sources say 20-25 jobs weren’t filled.
“You are in the right neighborhood,” said Mancuso.
The paper says that Mancuso did not want to criticize LaSpina, but that is exactly what he did.
“I was just surprised the producers positions were left unfilled, we’ve worked very quickly to rectify that,” said Mancuso. “I was surprised the department head positions were left open – director of sales, news, creative services. We’re rectifying that.”
What Mancuso, nor the Buffalo News did not say was that LaSpina was not allowed to fill the jobs. Nexstar would not approve any new hires until it closed on the deal to buy the station.
When Nexstar did close, they fired LaSpina before any hires could be made.
While Mancuso was busy throwing the old GM under the bus, he was also busy sucking up to Nexstar.
Mancuso talked about how Nexstar President Tim Busch showed him the city of Buffalo, since he used to work there.
“He had great things to say about the market, great things to say about the people,” said Mancuso. “And he has almost been like a Chamber of Commerce for me. He gave me suggestions on where to live, restaurants, you name it. He has been fantastic.
“I don’t think many people can say they got a tour of the city from the president of their company. But I did. He drove us all over and pointing out different things. We went to Chef’s for dinner. From there back to the hotel in a real interesting, circuitous route so he could show us all those different things – City Hall, the Buffalo Club.”
As for the talk about Nexstar being a crappy company?
“I just think it is crazy and it is not indicative of the company I am working for and their involvement in the community everywhere,” said Mancuso. “Every broadcast company on the planet has had to right-size their businesses. I saw that at Tribune, I saw that at Fox, I saw that at Sinclair, I saw that at Raycom.”
You might want to wipe your nose off Dominic, you have something brown on it.
