Word is that Tegna owned KING-TV in Seattle is hiring not one, or two, but three new Executive Producers.

The station has lost 3 EP's over the last few months and now 3 more have been hired to take their place.

Insiders say that the Tegna station passed over at least 2 great Producers internally for the morning and evening EP jobs.

"These two have worked their rears off only to get a slap in the face. Basically, it's easier to hire EP's than producers here," said one staffer to FTVLive. The staffer added, "....it's not totally the ND's fault....almost all of our hires now have to clear through corporate. If they don't pass the Tenga smell test, then forget it."

Here is the internal email sent to the staff and obtained by FTVLive:

We are pleased to announced the hiring of the new KING 5 Executive Producer Team.

Laura Evans will be our new Morning Executive Producer. Laura and her husband are from Seattle but have recently been living in Vancouver.  Laura has been the Senior Producer at CTV and prior to that she was Executive Producer at KTXL in Sacramento and the Senior Producer on KOMO’s morning news.  Laura’s first day will be Monday September 11th but you will see her in the newsroom in August for our August 23rd Morning News Meeting. 

Ruben Villaescusa will be our new Dayside Executive Producer.  Ruben was most recently the Assistant News Director at KTTV/KCOP in Los Angeles, we worked together for 11 years. Ruben has spent his entire career in LA TV working for and with  KTLA, KCOP, KTTV and KNBC.  He been an Assignment Desk Editor, Assignment Manager, a Writer & Producer, Assistant News Director and interim New Director. Ruben’s first day will be August 7th.  Ruben is going to begin his time here at KING on the Morning News until Laura arrives. 

Neel Dhere is returning to KING as our new Nightside Executive Producer.  Neel is currently working at our sister TEGNA station WTLV the dual network duopoly(NBC & ABC) as the morning Executive Producer.  Neel left KING in 2015 to be the Nightside EP in Jacksonville.

During his first tour of duty at KING he was our morning news producer and helped us during the ELC transition. He also worked in St. Louis at KSDK during Ferguson Riots and at WCNC during a hiring shortage. Neel’s first week at KING will be September 4th.

Chris Boicelli joined KING during a major transition period before we moved.  He has been quite the utility player helping out on a variety of fronts as Executive Producer and handling scheduling.  Chris will be leaving September 1st. 

I have included Laura, Ruben and Neel on this email if you would like to reach out to any of them during this interim time.

Cheryl Carson
Executive News Director