ATLANTA — Channel 2 WSB-TV has named Misti Turnbull as its new News Director for WSB-TV. Turnbull replaces Mike Dreaden, who was recently named Vice President of News and Marketing for Television for Cox Media Group.
“Misti has played an integral role on our news editorial team overseeing our day-to-day news coverage, and we are extremely fortunate that we can tap internal talent like Misti for this key leadership position,” said Tim McVay, Vice President and General Manager for WSB-TV at Tuesday’s station staff meeting. "She is a proven part of our success and works at the extremely high level demanded of this station. We have tremendous confidence in Misti’s leadership, editorial judgment and knowledge of what it takes to be WSB-TV’s News Director.”
Turnbull has worked for WSB-TV for 16 years serving as Managing Editor over the past three and a half years. In that role, she oversees the daily execution of news operations and is responsible for driving content creation for 45 hours of live local news coverage every week. She has also served as a writer, producer, morning executive producer, dayside executive producer and senior executive producer before her promotion almost four years ago.
“I’m excited and honored for this opportunity to lead the great team of journalists at this station,” said Turnbull. “I’m deeply committed to everything for which Channel 2 Action News stands and to continuing what makes it the best news station in the nation.
“It’s an exciting time as we grow our capabilities to deliver local news and weather to our audience wherever they are. I’m thrilled to lead that charge going forward.”
While working at WSB-TV, Turnbull has received 31 Emmy nominations and eight Emmy awards. She was awarded the Emmy for Outstanding Producer as the 11 p.m. Nightbeat producer and a coveted Regional Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Newscast as the 5 p.m. producer. During her time as Managing Editor, WSB-TV has received additional Murrow awards and the Emmy for Overall News Excellence. The news department has also received many awards from the Georgia Association of Broadcasters including Best Newscast and Best Website.
During her career, Turnbull has covered hurricanes in Virginia, then blizzards in Colorado. Misti was also working in Colorado Springs the night JonBenet Ramsey was murdered in Boulder and worked with investigative reporters for months on their coverage of the mystery. A few short weeks after moving to Atlanta, the Columbine massacre took place and Misti was sent back to Colorado to field produce for WSB-TV. Her first day working inside WSB’s newsroom was the day Atlanta firefighter Matt Moseley rescued worker Ivers Sims from a burning crane high above the city. Since then, she has been in the middle of all the big stories from the ice storm during the Super Bowl in 2000, to political races, the Buckhead day trader shootings, the Fulton County Courthouse shooting and Snowmageddon of 2013.
Prior to joining WSB-TV, Turnbull produced the morning news at Denver’s ABC affiliate, KMGH-TV. She also was a Producer and Executive Producer at KRDO in Colorado Springs. Turnbull launched her career in Norfolk, Virginia where she was a writer and producer at WAVY-TV and later, WTKR-TV. During that time, Turnbull performed almost every job in the newsroom, from ripping scripts, to running the assignment desk, to tuning in live microwave shots. She even anchored and produced newscasts for VBTV.
Turnbull earned her Bachelor’s degree in Media Performance from Florida State University. Turnbull and her husband, Robert, have been married 19 years and reside in Lilburn with their two teenaged children.
About Channel 2 WSB-TV
The ABC Affiliate is part of Cox Media Group and ranks as Atlanta’s number one local television station. The station also operates its website,
[ wsbtv.com ]
, its mobile site,
[ m.wsbtv.com ]
, multiple mobile apps for news, weather, traffic and morning news. It also airs MeTV on its digital channel 2.2 and Laff on 2.3. It’s also on
[ Facebook ]
,
[ Twitter ]
and
[ Instagram ]
.
About Cox Media Group
Cox Media Group is an integrated broadcasting, publishing, direct marketing and digital media company that includes the national advertising rep firms of CoxReps. Additionally, CMG owns Cox Target Media, which operates Valpak, one of North America's leading direct marketing companies, and Savings.com, a leading destination for online coupon codes and grocery deals. The company's operations currently include 14 broadcast television stations and one local cable channel, 59 radio stations, seven daily newspapers and more than a dozen non-daily publications, and more than 100 digital services. CMG currently operates in more than 20 media markets and reaches approximately 52 million Americans weekly, including more than 31 million TV viewers, more than 3.5 million print and online newspaper readers, and more than 14 million radio listeners. For more information about Cox Media Group, please check us out online at www.coxmediagroup.com.