NBCUniversal named Todd Mokhtari president and general manager for KNBC-TV and KVEA-TV, in Los Angeles.
Mokhtari has been general manager of NBCU’s NBC and Telemundo stations in San Diego since 2019. Before that he spent six years as VP of news at KNBC.
He succeeds Steve Carlston, who ran KNBC and Celia Chavez, the GM for Telemundo station KVEA.
Mokhtari will report to Valari Staab, chairman, NBCUniversal Local, and will work closely with Manuel Martinez, president, Telemundo Station Group.
“Todd is an exceptional general manager for our San Diego NBC & Telemundo stations. He understands both the English and Spanish language television markets and has long been one of our most innovative managers,” said Staab.
“Todd is from L.A. and once led our KNBC newsroom. He understands the power of bringing KVEA and KNBC together to serve the entire Los Angeles area with its large Latino population and ever increasing diversity, in a way no other television operation can,” Staab said.
Staab praised Carlston for taking KNBC from a place where it was significantly under-resourced and therefore, struggling to compete, to the great station it is today.
“With the demographic makeup of our country rapidly changing, the general market as we once knew it no longer exists. Our markets are not fragmented anymore, they are one, and the Telemundo and NBC stations every day reach English, Spanish and bilingual audiences and multigenerational families through each of their newscasts,” said Telemundo’s Martinez. “Todd knows how powerful our Telemundo station is in Los Angeles and the value our newscasts provide to our communities. I cannot wait to see what Todd and our KVEA and KNBC teams will do to strengthen both stations,”
Martinez praised Chavez for the 27 years she served at Telemundo. “She put together a great management team and experienced many ratings, revenue and community successes with KVEA,” he said.
At KNSD Mokhtari’s news team changed its late newscast. Instead of a high story count and lots of crime stories, KNSD’s news anchors walk viewers through the big stories of the day, providing context, depth and detail. Spanish-speaking audiences will soon benefit from this new approach to local news when KUAN launches this news format during the late news, NBCU said.
Before KNBC, Mokhtari was news director for KIRO-TV and KCPQ-TV in Seattle. He launched his career in local broadcasting as an intern at KCRA-TV in Sacramento and held various roles with increasing responsibility including newscast producer. ■
