Marian Pittman will be taking over leadership of WSB-TV April 1 and will also be promoted to Cox Media Group’s president of content.
She will replace Ray Carter, who is retiring as vice president and general manager of WSB-TV and moving to Modesto, California, to lead the California Modesto Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
As executive vice president of digital strategy and research, Pittman has been working on CMG’s ongoing evolution as a streaming and digital business. She was WSB-TV’s news director from 2007 to 2012 and then station manager before becoming CMG’s vice president of news and marketing in 2013.
“I’m proud to return to WSB-TV to lead a station and team with such a storied history and reputation for positively impacting viewers and communities,” Pittman said in a press release.
Current news director Suzanne Nadell, in an email to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, said Pittman “has always worked closely with WSB-TV even in her corporate role. We’re excited that someone who is passionate about the station, journalism and Atlanta will be leading us on a daily basis.”
WSB-TV has been a top-rated TV station in metro Atlanta for decades.
Carter, in an interview with the AJC, said he is leaving after 40-plus years in local television with his head held up high and returning to his home state with his wife Cathy of 34 years.
His new volunteer job will oversee about 150 young adults between ages 18 and 25.
“This is going to be an emotional and spiritual feast for us,” Carter said.
Apollo Global Management, a large New York-based asset management company, in 2019 purchased a majority stake of Cox Media Group, which includes 50 radio stations and 14 TV stations in multiple markets, from Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises, which maintains minority ownership. Cox Enterprises also owns The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“Apollo have been excellent stewards of this property and its other media properties,” Carter said. “Everybody fears when private equity comes in, but they have been honorable. They gave us the resources to continue to be a dominant television station.”
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