THE
BACK STORY
Linda Levy and Jan
Allen are the principals and founders of The
NWT Group. Back in the day of big shoulder pads and even bigger hair, they
were among the first female news directors in the country. It was inevitable
they would
become friends.
They also found themselves making nationwide reputations for overseeing successful
turnaround situations in the newsrooms they headed up.
Linda
Levy has been a News Director in markets ranging from large...including
the top ten market at KTVT, the
CBS O&O in Dallas ... to medium, including WKBW in Buffalo, WDSU in New
Orleans and KOCO in Oklahoma City... to small, such as KATC in Lafayette, LA.
She’s also worked in news at the corporate level, as Director of News Services for Belo. In that role, she oversaw shared coverage of major news events, including the Oklahoma City bombing to hurricanes to the '96 Presidential campaign.
Her coverage of the big stories got noticed. When describing WDSU’s coverage of a nationally watched gubernatorial election, The Times Picayune told its readers to “keep an eye on…News Director Linda Levy…who seems determined to stir things up.” The newspaper also recognized WDSU as "the market leader in special campaign coverage." In fact, C-Span carried the station’s election night coverage. This made Linda’s parents very happy because they were finally able to figure out what she did for a living.
Linda has local programming experience too. While at Belo, she served as one of the Senior Producers of “Prime Time Texas”, a weekly newsmagazine that aired in several markets in the state. Linda was also the Director of News and Local Programming for WKBW in Buffalo. And she was the Director of News Programming for Bay News 9 in Tampa, which included Bay News 9 and Bay News 9 en espanol and Bay News 9.com.
Linda also served as a faculty member of the Reynolds National Center for Courts and Media, which was formed by The National Judicial College. Its goal is to better communications between judges and journalists through seminars and workshops. In addition, Linda served as a guest faculty member at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies.
Jan Allen has been called everything from the “queen of the turnarounds” to a” hired gun.” And, well, some other things she just doesn’t want to talk about.
Jan was Vice-President and Station Manager of KATU in Portland, Oregon, where she was responsible for News, Creative Services, Design, Operations, I.S., and Local Programming. Local shows were the daily morning talker “A.M. Northwest” and the weekly “Town Hall”. The name says it all.
She was News Director at KATU for a year prior to her promotion.
Former Fisher Broadcasting CEO Pat Scott called Jan “a passionate manager who cares about people and results.”
One of her most exciting turnarounds was when she was News Director at KXTV in Sacramento. She feels her team accomplished a lot in her 14 month tenure.
The Sacramento Bee said “Perennial TV powerhouse KCRA is feeling the hot breath of KXTV in what has become the first legitimate race for number one in the history of Sacramento television,” Another article announced “Channel 10’s evening newscast makes historic rating jump”
She was Managing Editor at KOMO-TV where she was part
of a great group that took the station from third to first place in all
major newscasts. The Seattle Weekly had this to say about her departure:
“A class act heads south…Jan Allen’s 5 years as assistant news director set her
apart-as did her respected news judgment and what a former staffer calls her
ability to get the work done and still be human being”
Jan’s luck held out at KREM-TV in Spokane where she
was News Director for 3 years.
“For the first time in Channel Two’s 30 year history, KREM 2 News is the top
rated television news show.” Spokane Business Examiner
Jan knows what it’s like to be in front of the camera, too. She started her stint at WJIM-TV in Lansing as an anchor/reporter/weather bunny. After a few years, she was promoted to News Director where she took the station to number one for the first time ever.
She began her broadcasting at WWTV in Cadillac, Michigan where she was an anchor/reporter and generally a one- man band.
There’s been recognition and awards too. When Linda was News Director at KTVT, the station was cited by the Pew Center’s “Project for Excellent in Journalism” as the #1 major market late newscast in the country. KTVT also was awarded a Heartland Emmy for Outstanding Daily news coverage as well. Another Emmy came to “Prime Time Texas”.
Jan can’t remember exactly how many awards her organizations
have won. But there have been dozens and dozens. Some that stand out:
Best Newscast at KOMO 4 out of 5 years from the Emmy folks, 2 consecutive
years winning N.P.P.A. Station of the Year, National Best Newscast from
UPI, also at KOMO, and National Edward R. Murrow Award for Continuing
Coverage at KATU.
But probably the most exciting was the Emmy race in California.
Sacramento was being judged alongside the number 5 market, San Francisco. And guess who won Best Newscast? Little ol’ Sacramento. That was huge.
But it’s not about the awards. As we mentioned earlier, Jan and Linda specialized in coming into newsrooms, raising the bar, improving the product, building great teams, and raising the ratings.
They take that same turnaround approach in working
with those looking to The NWT Group for guidance. Their goal: Help you
improve your journalistic skills.
For them, it’s not about your job…it’s about your career. It’s about passion
for doing the best every day…all day. Without whining.
Nancy Shafran has
been working for television stations for more than twenty five years but
now prefers being thought of as a news coach, new job negotiator, or career
development counselor. Nancy’s background as a news manager, which included
discovering, hiring, and developing talent, prepared her for all these
things…and more.
Nancy spent twelve years as News Director at KPRC-TV in Houston. She helped
turn a sleepy, non-competitive newsroom into an aggressive operation that thrived
on live breaking news, weather coverage, and enterprise reporting.
Her efforts were recognized by winning Best Newscast by the Houston Press Club
(a statewide competition) eleven out of the twelve years she was at the helm
of the newsroom. The station, known for its graphic intensive and fast paced
approach to news, also was consistently recognized for its talented reporting
and storytelling. During her years there, the station won a coveted Peabody
Award for an investigative series. There were countless awards from the Dallas
Press Club, Associated Press, and other groups. Nancy helped prove that a cutting
edge, contemporary newscast could also be a showcase for quality journalism.
Before coming to KPRC, Nancy spent almost fourteen years at WJXT-TV in Jacksonville,
Florida. She started there as an entry-level producer, initially on the noon
newscast…progressing through the 6PM and 11PM shows. (While she produced the
six, it was the highest rated 6PM newscast in the country.) She also worked
the assignment desk. As she climbed the management ranks to the job of News
Director, Nancy learned the ins and outs of t-v news. She was fortunate to
work with some of the best in the business both in front of and behind the
camera.
In addition to producing newscasts at WJXT, Nancy produced documentaries that
won two prestigious Columbia-DuPont Awards and three Emmy Awards. More important,
these programs affected positive change in the city. (Yes, Nancy still believes
in the adage we should comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.)
Nancy graduated from the University of Missouri with a Bachelor of Journalism.
She was a paid teaching assistant at KOMU-TV, the NBC affiliate in Columbia,
Missouri. Her first job after graduation was at CNN in Atlanta.
The news business has changed in countless ways since Nancy walked into her
first newsroom, but Nancy still loves News…still loves finding new talent…and
loves seeing them succeed.
David Christopher has more than 35-years of broadcast news experience as an Anchor/Reporter, Investigative Reporter and Executive News Director. David’s extensive background as a major market journalist and executive news director provides a critical blend of skills to address all expectations and concerns. As part of The NWT Group, he brings decades of experience to select, guide, mentor, coach and negotiate contracts for the next generation of broadcast news journalists.
As a large market Executive News Director, David has developed a reputation as a “turn-around specialist” and a top talent coach.
David’s on-camera reporting career began at the typical small market hole-in-the-wall in Wyoming as a one-man band, producer, editor, photographer, window-washer …you get the picture. During the next 20-years he rapidly moved up in markets as an Anchor/Reporter in markets ranging from Arizona to Illinois… finally joining the FOX O & O in Dallas as an Investigative Reporter and Anchor.
He covered most major news events during his more than 20 years of reporting and anchoring. Then, (in a moment some call temporary insanity) he decided it was time to explore the next chapter in his career as a News Director. The goal was to utilize decades of experience and work with young journalists to build some of the best newsrooms in the country.
David turned a small market station in Tennessee into the highest rated ABC-Affiliate in America; went on to southern Illinois and turned three co-owned news operations into market leaders that for the past five years have won every award possible including “outstanding news operation in state,” “best newscast in state,” and “top investigative reporting.” He has built newsrooms from the ground up, hiring and coaching entire staffs and launching new newscasts that rapidly defeated long-standing legacy stations. In West Palm Beach, David rebuilt the entire news operations at CBS-12 and FOX 29 and in less than one year turned both stations into strong news organizations.
Along the way his work has been consistently recognized with more than 75-Local, State, Regional and National awards for “Excellence in Broadcast Journalism.” However, the largest accomplishment in his career was not winning awards but working as an investigative journalist to expose corruption, chase crooked politicians, solve a few previously unsolved murders -- and the crowning jewel -- a series of undercover investigative reports documenting how people across the Southwestern United States were dying from misfiled prescriptions. That series is credited with saving countless lives and changed pharmacy laws across the United States.
David knows first-hand about the struggles facing
today’s newsrooms and management challenges…”to be successful in today’s
rapidly changing newsrooms you need to understand we are all being asked to
do more with less resources than ever before. Managers have no time for
whining talent but at the same time valuable talent needs to be rewarded and
compensated for what they bring to the team.”
Martha Pepper is
the Office Manager for The NWT Group. Besides making Jan, Linda, Nancy
and Melanie fill out paperwork (an almost impossible task), she is instrumental
in helping our folk’s various needs.
Martha loves the field of communications and is a valued member of the NWT family. She decided on a degree in public relations because it satisfies her interests in marketing, journalism, and relationships.
She got her BA in PR from Brigham Young University. After finishing classes, she worked at Community Action Services in Provo, Utah as part of their communications team.
Martha was born and raised in Westland, Mich. but lived in McAllen, Texas for a year and half as a missionary for her church. She is glad to be back in Texas but especially to be part of The NWT Group.
She loves to write, organize, and see people have
success and gratification from their job. If you have any questions,
or need help with anything from managing a move to filling out a form
and all things in-between – just give Martha a call!
The other folks you’ll meet:
Rich Everitt began his broadcasting career when, at
age 10, he read a local newspaper over a “crystal radio” he made from
a coil of wire and a 10-cent diode from Radio Shack. Since then, he has
won numerous major market awards for investigative reporting, public
service reporting, and producing. As a TV reporter, Rich has exposed
corruption in local governments, covered civil unrest in the South (he
was the first Television News Reporter to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan
and returned with the video), and has interviewed most of the major newsmakers
of the past 20 years.
Rich is the President and CEO of the immensely popular TALENTapes,
INC., the premier
resume tape/career consulting business for those in the Television News Industry.
He is also the author of the popular non-fiction book, Falling
Stars: Air Crashes that Filled Rock & Roll Heaven, published
by Harbor House Books.
Rich holds a Master of Arts from Emerson College. He further honed his film
and television writing at Harvard. He also holds Bachelor of Arts degrees in
psychology and speech from LaGrange College.
Rich lives in Augusta, Georgia, with his wife, Susan, and daughter, Ellen.
Ed
Sardella is the author of Write Like You Talk…A Broadcast Newswriting
Handbook. His book came from his many years spent covering news.
Ed served for thirty years as a primary news anchor and senior editor at KUSA-TV in Denver, Colorado.
Ed is considered by many to be one of the primary anchors around the country. He has helped hundreds of journalists improve their skills…both in the newsroom and in the classroom.
Ed also taught broadcast news reporting and writing on the college level for many years at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
His book…Write Like You Talk…continues to serve as a valuable resource to journalists around the country.
Barbara
is a former award-winning anchor and reporter at numerous stations around
the country. She took that experience and coupled her journalistic talents
with her other skills…knowing what will work on-camera so that you look
your best. Barbara is now an appearance coach…consulting on-air talent
around the country.
Barbara also serves as the makeup and appearance consultant for The NWT Group. Her sharp eye and vast experience have helped numerous journalists look camera ready.
