Posted on: Tuesday, July 2, 2002

One man to head KHON, KGMB

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Rick Blangiardi, president of the Telemundo Stations Group, is expected to be named general manager of both KHON-Fox 2 and KGMB-9, the CBS affiliate, consolidating oversight of the two stations under one position.

A person close to the situation, who declined to be identified because no public release of information had been authorized, said an announcement was expected by week's end.

Blangiardi declined to comment yesterday other than to say "I am coming home and very happy about it."

Randy Bongarten, president of the television division of Emmis Communications Corp., which owns both stations, said only: "We have an opening at KGMB. ... Nobody's been hired for the position yet — that much I can say."

Lynne Mueller resigned as general manager of KGMB this year. Bill Spellman is vice president and general manager of KHON. Repeated attempts to contact him yesterday were unsuccessful.

Emmis has challenged a Federal Communications Commission rule prohibiting ownership of two out of the top-four television stations in a single market. Yesterday its 90-day waiver to the rule expired, and the FCC had not responded to the company's request for a one-year ownership extension.

Dave Roberts, an attorney with the FCC's Media Bureau, said Emmis' request was pending and the FCC did not anticipate taking any immediate action.

Blangiardi began his broadcast career in Hawai'i and has been an athlete, coach, radio announcer and TV sales and station general manager. He was instrumental in making KHNL-KFVE a leader in broadcasting sports events in Hawai'i.

Telemundo is a Spanish broadcasting media group in 10 markets on the Mainland, with headquarters in Florida; Blangiardi was with Telemundo's operations in Los Angeles.