CHICAGO, March 11 /PRNewswire/ -- The sweeping change underway at
Tribune Company today took another giant leap forward as the media giant
announced the appointment of music and radio industry icon Lee Abrams as
Chief Innovation Officer. Abrams will be responsible for innovation across
Tribune's publishing, broadcasting and interactive divisions, and will
assume his duties April 1. He is the first person to hold the position in
the company's 160-year history.
"There is a remarkable opportunity for Tribune to design the future of
American media with passion, intellect, and imagination that meets the
spirit of the 21st century," said Abrams. "We have the resources to pioneer
a new age of information and entertainment that re-invents and
enlightens-and that is exactly what we are going to do!"
Since 1998, Abrams has served as Senior Vice President and Chief
Creative Officer at XM Satellite Radio, overseeing the development and
programming of more than 100 radio stations. At XM, Abrams developed
programming with such diverse artists as Bob Dylan, Snoop Dogg, Quincy
Jones, Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis.
"Lee is the most formidable creative thinker in the media business
today," said Randy Michaels, Tribune's president of broadcasting and
interactive. "He invented the modern FM radio format, got satellite radio
off the ground when no one gave it a chance, and managed to advise on the
redesign of "Rolling Stone" magazine and the launch of TNT Cable Network in
his spare time. Lee's going to pump new life into our content, re-energize
our brands, and get people thinking and working together like they never
have before."
Abrams, 55, was the founding partner of Burkhart/Abrams, the
Atlanta-based consulting giant, and is credited with inventing album rock,
the first successful FM format. He pioneered the radio "morning show" and
gave Howard Stern and Steve Dahl their first major market jobs. Abrams has
also been a marketing and content consultant to MTV, Swatch and Coca-Cola.
TRIBUNE is America's largest employee-owned media company, operating
businesses in publishing, interactive and broadcasting. In publishing,
Tribune's leading daily newspapers include the Los Angeles Times, Chicago
Tribune, Newsday (Long Island, N.Y.), The Sun (Baltimore), South Florida
Sun-Sentinel, Orlando Sentinel and Hartford Courant. The company's
broadcasting group operates 23 television stations, Superstation WGN on
national cable, Chicago's WGN-AM and the Chicago Cubs baseball team.
Popular news and information websites complement Tribune's print and
broadcast properties and extend the company's nationwide audience.
SOURCE Tribune Company
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Related links:
http://www.tribune.com
CONTACT:
Gary Weitman, VP, Corporate Communications of
Tribune Company, +1-312-222-3394, gweitman@tribune.com
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