Fates & Fortunes

What's your fate?

Send it to Llanor Alleyne, editorial assistant, Broadcasting & Cable (e-mail: palleyne@reedbusiness; fax: 646-746-7028; mail: 360 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10010).

Broadcast TV

Richard Lahti, director, engineering and operations, Telemundo, Los Angeles, named director, engineering, Telemundo and KNBC(TV) Los Angeles.

Frank Willson, director, marketing and design, WBNS-TV Columbus, Ohio, expands his duties to director, operations.

At KWBT(TV) Tulsa, Okla.: Darnell Washington, local sales manager, KOCB(TV) Oklahoma City, joins as VP, sales; Derek Criss, local sales manager, promoted VP, sales; Carol Dawson, VP, marketing and network promotions, account executive/archive producer, Yahoo! Broadcast, Dallas, joins as marketing manager.

Cable TV

Bill Shaw, VP, field operations, AT&T Broadband, Miramar, Fla., joins Bright House Networks' Birmingham, Ala., division, as president.

Programming

Steve Smith, COO, Intertainer Asia, Singapore, named COO and executive VP, Encore International, Denver/Hong Kong.

Bruce R. Thomas, VP, integrated marketing and business development, A&E Television Networks, New York, joins Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network, New York, as executive VP, media services.

Jim McClintock, VP, network media, ABC Television Network, Los Angeles, appointed senior VP.

Kim Hatamiya, senior VP/GM, television and film, Mindrocket Media/JP Kids, Los Angeles, named senior VP, sales and marketing, Sony Pictures Television International, Culver City, Calif.

At ESPN, New York: Rick Alessandri, VP/assistant to president, promoted to senior VP/GM, ESPN Enterprises; Kerry Chandler, VP, human resources, promoted to senior VP.

Carol Eng, VP, original programming, MTV, New York, promoted to senior VP.

Dusty Schmidt, VP, creative services, Home & Garden Television, Knoxville, Tenn., promoted to senior VP.

Jerry Leo , manager, program planning, VH1, New York, promoted to VP.

At Court TV, New York: Mark Fichandler, senior director, development, promoted to VP, documentary development and international co-production; Robin Sestero, executive producer/VP, LMNO Cable Group, Los Angeles, joins as executive producer, documentaries and specials; Lori Siegel, senior producer, series production, promoted to executive producer, documentaries and series; Diane Petzke, freelance producer, ABC newsmagazines unit, New York, joins as senior producer, Hollywood At Large.

Pete Crowley, director, property development and facilities, Scripps Networks, Knoxville, Tenn., promoted to VP.

Michael Dessart, director, marketing strategy and analysis, HBO, New York, joins CSTV: College Sports Television, New York, as VP/partner, marketing.

Diana Hanford, VP, marketing and network promotions, Pax TV, West Palm Beach, Fla., joins Fox Sports Net Florida, Sunrise, Fla., as communications manager.

Phil Han, design director, on-air design and promotions, G4, Los Angeles, named art director, on-air design, E! Networks, Los Angeles.

Journalism

Joe Allbaugh, director, Federal Emergency Managment Agency, Washington, joins Fox News Channel, Washington, as contributor.

Stan Stovall, anchor, WMAR-TV Baltimore, named weekend morning co-anchor, WBAL-TV Baltimore.

Tom Clyde, sports director, KDRV(TV) Medford, Ore., joins WZZM-TV Grand Rapids, Mich., as sportscaster.

Jennie Finch
professional softball player, joins Major League Baseball, New York, as correspondent, This Week in Baseball.

Radio

Bev Smith, radio talk-show host, Black Entertainment Television, Washington, joins WWRL(AM) New York, as host, The Bev Smith Show.

Technology

Jim Kuhns, director, field support, Terayon Communications Systems, Clinton Township, Mich., joins Optinel Systems, Elkridge, Md., as director, network engineering.

Advertising/Marketing/PR

Sam Millstone, senior VP, lodging finance and business development, Marriott International, New York, joins Arbitron, New York, as VP, finance.

Kevin Cox
, VP/director, strategy and integrated marketing, Doremus & Co., San Francisco, named VP/group account director, Hill, Holliday, San Francisco.

Obituary

Col. Barney Oldfield
(USAF, retired), journalist, publicist, philanthropist, writer and founder of the Radio-Television News Directors Foundation, died April 26 in Los Angeles. He was 93.

As chairman of the RTNDA finance and fundraising committee in 1967, he launched an effort to endow a scholarship in broadcast journalism. That effort became RTNDF, which awarded its first scholarship in 1970 and now awards 22 scholarships, including one in Barney and wife Vada's name for national-security reporting. In 1994, RTNDF also established the Barney Oldfield Distinguished Service Award for contributions to the success of RTNDF.

Oldfield, born in Tecumseh, Neb., Dec. 18, 1909, began his adult working life driving stakes for Barnum & Bailey and spikes for the Baltimore & Ohio railroad to help put himself through the University of Nebraska. Later, he worked as a newspaperman and theater usher. He would combine the latter two as movie reviewer for the Lincoln Journal
(including contributions to Variety) from 1930 to 1940. During that time, he also had his own radio show, Hollywood Highlights, on KFOR(FM) Lincoln, Neb.

During World War II, Oldfield was a public relations officer, serving as a press aide to numerous generals, including Dwight Eisenhower and Omar Bradley, and to British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery.

Oldfield was also a pioneer in "embedding" journalists in wartime. As an ROTC graduate and paratrooper, he helped line up journalists willing to accompany paratroopers during the Normandy invasion and organized mobile press units to cover the army's march though Europe. His book Never a Shot in Anger
told of the military's effort to accommodate journalists.

After the war, he joined Warner Bros. as a publicist before being called back to active duty.