Super Bowl Update

Hearst Television has done some shuffling in its news departments in Cincinnati and Louisville.

First, to Cincinnati and WLWT goes Mike Neelly, the longtime news director at Louisville's WLKY.  Neelly, who's been with WLKY for 15 years (and news director for the past 12 of those), replaces Stacy Owen at WLWT, who recently left for KNBC in Los Angeles.

Replacing Neelly at WLKY is his longtime assistant, Andrea Stahlman.  Stahlman, a graduate of Notre Dame with nearly 19 years of service at WLKY (she started as the station's weekend assignment editor in December 1993), has been the CBS affiliate's assistant ND since 2000.

Bill Cummings, who spent several years as news director at 14WFIE in Evansville, has a new job.

Cummings is leaving KSWT (Yuma, Ariz.) where he took over as ND earlier this year to take up the same position at WICU/WSEE in Erie, Pa., Rick Gevers reports in his weekly newsletter.

A veteran of TV news, Cummings has also worked in Tucson, Ariz.; Huntington, W.V.; and the Tri-Cities market in Tennessee. 

JDTVB has learned that there's a new leader at the helm of the news department at WEHT Local and Local 7 WTVW.

Sources have confirmed that Bob Freeman was named news director for both stations this afternoon, and he brings a wealth of experience to the job.

Freeman spent 11 years (1993-2004) as 14WFIE's news director, and he has also worked in various roles for both WEHT and WTVW.  More recently, he was executive producer for special projects such as WTVW's My Hometown and high school sports telecasts, just to name a couple.

Freeman, who takes over as ND immediately, replaces Bob Walters, who was removed as news director in June.