CHICAGO, June 28 (UPI) -- The Chicago Tribune newspaper named Bob Gremillion, a veteran of the Tribune Co.'s television operations, to the post of interim publisher.
Gremillion was tapped for the job by Tribune Co. Chief Executive Officer Randy Michaels Friday. The newspaper is looking at larger-than-anticipated advertising drop-offs and is anticipating additional cuts to its newsroom budget. Gremillion replaces outgoing Chicago Tribune publisher Scott Smith, who announced this month he would be retiring after more than 30 years with the company, the Tribune reported.
Gremillion previously was publisher of Tribune Co's South Florida Sun-Sentinel and CEO of Sun-Sentinel Co. in Fort Lauderdale. Among his duties there was to institute a newspaper redesign, which is set to be replicated in Chicago.
Gremillion is also is a former broadcast executive, serving as vice president and general manager of the Tribune Co.'s regional programming in the 1990s, overseeing the 1993 launch of Chicago's CLTV cable news channel. He joined Tribune Co. in 1983 with the company's acquisition of WGNO-TV, New Orleans.
Staff cuts at the company's Hartford Courant and Baltimore Sun newspapers were announced this week, and layoffs at the flagship Tribune are widely anticipated, the newspaper said.
