Tucson, Ariz. — Forrest Carr has joined the executive team at KGUN-TV in Tucson as the station’s news director.
The announcement marks Carr’s return to the position at the ABC affiliate where he led the news department from 1997 to 2001 and launched the KGUN9 “On Your Side” viewer advocacy program.
“We tried really hard to make it not just a slogan, but a commitment to giving voice to the voiceless, holding the powerful accountable and upholding democracy by making sure the democratic process works all the time, not just on election day,” Carr described of launching “On Your Side” at KGUN in 1997. “The station was on the forefront of that twelve years ago, so to be able to come back and rekindle that where it all began will be a lot of fun.”
From 2001 to 2005, Carr was news director for WFLA-TV in Tampa before moving into the same role at Fox 4 WFTX-TV in Ft. Myers, Fla., where he launched a viewer advocacy program called “In Your Corner.” In 2008 he was named news director at KRQE-TV in Albuquerque. His first day as returning news director at KGUN was September 8.
Both KGUN9 and Fox 4 WFTX-TV are owned by Journal Broadcast Group, which acquired both stations in December 2005.
“KGUN is a wholly different station than when I left. It was not owned by Journal Broadcast Group at the time,” Carr explained. “The station now has a multi-media opportunity to serve the audience with radio, television stations and interactive media under one roof. It’s an exciting time to be back in Tucson and back working for Journal. I’m tremendously gratified to be given this opportunity to be on the forefront of what the company believes in.”
“Forrest continues to successfully evolve the viewer advocacy brand of journalism to bring bigger benefits to news reporting,” said Vice President and General Manager – Tucson Operations Julie Brinks. “We are pleased to have him back in our organization and look forward to the opportunity to take our premiere products in Tucson to a new level of success.”
In addition to KGUN9, Journal Broadcast Group owns KWBA-TV and radio stations KMXZ-FM, KQTH-FM, KGMG-FM and KFFN-AM in Tucson, and is developing Hispanic language channels affiliated with LATV and Mexicanal.
About Journal Broadcast Group
Journal Broadcast Group owns and operates 35 radio stations and 13 television stations in 12 states and operates an additional television station under a local marketing agreement. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, it is the broadcast business of Journal Communications Inc., a diversified media company with operations in publishing, radio and television broadcasting, interactive media and printing services.