WCBS New York VP/News Director David Friend has been promoted to senior vp of news for parent CBS Television Stations. Friend has been at WCBS since 2006 and will continue to oversee the newsroom there.
It is a new position at the CBS owned stations. He'll "take on the increased responsibility of collaborating with the local management teams at CBS's owned stations to oversee all news production and news operations," said CBS in a statement, and "will facilitate communication and team building, develop newsgathering resources and share best practices with his colleagues across the group."
Friend will also work with CBS Radio to strengthen TV-radio partnerships in markets where CBS owns both media, and will serve as liaison with the CBS News management team.
In June, WCBS Creative Services Director Bruce Erik Brauer was named senior vp of creative services for the 29-station group.
CBS Television Stations President Peter Dunn ran WCBS before being named head of the station group last year, and continues to run the New York flagship.
Friend has engineered WCBS's local news growth the last few years.
"David Friend has done a tremendous job of leading the WCBS-TV news department to exciting new heights over the past four years," said Dunn. "Since joining us, the quality of our newscasts has significantly and consistently improved, as have the ratings, and we are very pleased that he will be doing more to share his 30-plus years of experience and insights as well as his great eye for talent with the outstanding team of station executives who oversee the day-to-day operation of our local news departments."
The CBS stations reported revenues of $678.2 million in the second quarter, well up from the $579.5 million it posted in the same quarter last year.
Before joining WCBS, Friend was a senior vp at CNBC. Prior to that, he was executive producer and co-creator of syndicated show Extra. He also was assistant news director at WABC New York.
"I am thrilled to be working more closely with the great teams we have in place," said Friend. "I look forward to working with my talented colleagues to ensure that we maintain the group's commitment to excellence and continue to make good decisions that grow our ratings and increase the distribution of our content across multiple platforms."
