NEW YORK, N.Y., July 24, 2009 – David Abel will be joining WMTW-TV, the Hearst Television Inc. ABC affiliate serving the Portland-Auburn, Maine, television market, as President and General Manager effective July 27. He succeeds Ken Bauder, who is retiring.

Abel joins WMTW from WCSH-TV, the Gannett Television NBC affiliate in Portland, where he has been General Sales Manager since December 2005. Previously, he held sales management responsibilities at WFMY-TV in the Greensboro / Winston-Salem, North Carolina market, a competitor to Hearst Television's WXII-TV, the NBC affiliate there.

"In selecting Dave to lead WMTW, we've added a bright, experienced and locally oriented executive to our team," said David J. Barrett, Hearst Television President and CEO. "Under Ken Bauder's leadership over the past five years we've made good progress at WMTW, improving our local news product and marketing, and our sales effort. As Ken caps a long and distinguished television career, Dave and the WMTW team are well positioned to build on this progress. Our resolve to make WMTW a top-tier station in the Portland market is as strong as ever."

In addition to his role as General Sales Manager of WCSH-TV, Abel served simultaneously in the same capacity at WLBZ-TV, Gannett's station in Bangor, Maine. He began his broadcasting career as a Sales Assistant with Blair Television, in New York City, in 1991, rising steadily to become Account Executive, later Group Sales Manager and, in May 1999, Vice President - Group Sales Manager of the Blair / Gannett sales team. He joined WFMY in Greensboro as the National Sales Manager in June 2002, later becoming Local Sales Manager. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Marketing from Long Island University, CW Post Campus, in Brookville, New York.

Portland-Auburn is the 77th largest television market, per Nielsen Media Research. Hearst Television acquired WMTW in 2004, complementing its other New England TV stations WCVB-TV, Boston; WMUR-TV, Manchester, New Hampshire; and WPTZ-TV/WNNE-TV, serving the Plattsburgh, New York / Burlington, Vermont, TV market.

Hearst Television Inc., formerly known as Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc., is a leading local media company that owns 26 television stations, and manages an additional three television and two radio stations. The Company's television stations reach approximately 18% of U.S. TV households, making it one of America's largest television station groups. It also owns 37 websites and multicasts more than two dozen digital channels providing news, weather and entertainment programming. Hearst Television is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hearst Corporation. The Company's Web address is www.hearsttelevision.com.

Contact:
Tom Campo
Campo Communications, LLC
(212) 590-2464
Tom@CampoComm.com