GM of the Year, Markets 51+: Rich ODell, WLTX, Columbia (S.C.)
For WLTX Columbia (South Carolina) president and general manager Rich O'Dell, success is all about feet on the street.
Already a fixture in the state's broadcasting community he has run the station for 20 years and was inducted into the South Carolina Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame in 2018 O'Dell and his news team were selected by parent Tegna to marshall a pilot program aimed at finding the pulse of the community and producing stories that make a difference in residents' everyday lives.
Rich O'Dell (l.) of Tegna's WLTX is a fixture on South Carolina's broadcast scene.
The result, Street Squad/Deep Dive, has been a catalyst for ratings growth in DMA No. 75. In 2019, the station gained seven news-viewer share points in early evening news to take the No. 1 position this past summer. The change was even more dramatic in late news, where WLTX, a CBS affiliate, picked up 15 points on the No. 1 station in the market (NBC affiliate WIS) between July 2017 and July 2019. According to Tegna, WLTX was three share points behind WIS in July 2017 among adults 25-54, and 12 points ahead by July 2019.
Rich has a rare combination of versatility and humility that makes him one of Tegna's most effective and respected leaders, Tegna executive VP and chief operating officer for media operations Lynn Beall said. As his colleagues know, he's incredibly deserving of this award.
Street Squad came out of a brainstorming session at Tegna's quarterly Innovation Summit. WLTX volunteered to spearhead the pilot for Tegna's 61 stations across the country.
More Local Heroes: Station Group of the Year | GM of the Year, Markets 1-25 | News Director of the Year | Multiplatform Broadcaster of the Year
The shift wasn't easy, as it required reporters to upend their regular routines, but was one the newsroom embraced wholeheartedly. After laying the foundation for Street Squad last year, WLTX fully launched the project in January.
The station overhauled workflow in its newsroom. We got rid of the dedicated assignment desk, O'Dell said. We've gotten rid of the old way of doing things.
O'Dell credited news director Julie Eisenman with the makeover. WLTX has one content team and there is no division anymore between producing for on-air and digital.
WLTXs Street Squad makes coverage more relevant to its residents.
We are developing content, producing content, publishing content constantly, whatever platform it goes on, O'Dell said. A greater focus on community reporting means that reporters no longer make the newsroom the first stop of their day. Street Squad staff start off at a specific geographic location each morning.
They're walking into the hair salon, they're walking into a coffee shop and just striking up conversations with people about what's important to them and their neighborhoods and what should we know about, O'Dell said. We have come up with so many stories that are people-related that are absolutely relevant to individual communities that we never, ever would have known about without talking to people.
Uncovering Hidden Stories
One of those stories concerned the deaths of two residents at a public housing complex from carbon monoxide poisoning, which also forced more than 400 tenants out of their apartments. O'Dell led the charge to find out what really happened at the complex, and the station's investigative Deep Dive Team discovered that gas leaks and other safety hazards were a common problem there. At one point during the investigation, two WLTX journalists who were searching through public documents at the housing complex were handcuffed and detained by private security. O'Dell and Eisenman got their reporters released and made sure they got the records for which they were searching.
As a result of WLTX's investigative reporting, several members of the housing board resigned and the South Carolina legislature took action to ensure closer scrutiny of all public housing in the state.
O'Dell credited Eisenman and the WLTX investigative team for their tenacity in pursuing the story. He's proud of the difference his team has already made in the community. I was at church the other day and somebody came up to me and said, Your Street Squad, those guys are doing what needs to be done,' O'Dell said. I love hearing that. It's not just a marketing technique, they are really out there doing the deed.
Relevancy is the key, localism is absolutely the key and we've found another way to make LTX stand out, he added.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
29/05/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
29/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...
29/05/2026
The days are getting longer, the temperatures are rising, and playlists are filling up for the season. With summer around the corner, Spotify's global edito...
29/05/2026
New retro-inspired MPC announced
There are few devices that have gained the status held by Akai Pro's MPC range, and in recent years, the company have s...
29/05/2026
Save up to 30 on acclaimed titles
Following a successful launch at Superbooth 2026, Bjooks have revealed that they will be continuing the Kickstarter campa...
29/05/2026
Binaural monitoring application improved
Genelec have just released an update that brings some powerful new features to their HRTF-based binaural headphone ...
29/05/2026
6 June 2026 at SAE Institute, London, UK
IMSTA FESTA 2026 is almost upon us, with some of the biggest names in pro-audio set to descend upon SAE Institute i...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, died April 12, 2026, at his home in...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Comparing 5 AI Video Enhancers for Restoring Old Video Quality
Kate Luvis May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Digitizing VHS, MiniDV, and other legacy formats doe...
29/05/2026
Studio Hamburg Builds New Post Pipeline with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Workflow replaces a patchwork of legacy tools...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
At the Intersection of Music and Dance, an Epic Collaboration Boston Conservatory musicians and dancers found creative parallels in their recent performance o...
29/05/2026
May 29 2026, 09:00 (PDT) Dolby and rednote Bring More Immersive Storytelling to...
29/05/2026
Something fundamental has shifted in how people consume media. Audiences aren't abandoning television or radio content; they're just expanding how, wher...
29/05/2026
Youtube exclusive special drops today
Watch now
UKTV today announces another e...
29/05/2026
Back to All News
The Official Trailer of Physical 100 Italy, on Netflix From Se...
29/05/2026
At just 20 years old, Sean Melia from Summerhill Co. Meath has been revealed as the winner of Super Garden 2026. Sean is the youngest ever contestant and winner...
29/05/2026
Experimental HIV vaccine achieves a long-sought goal In a first for the field, all non-human primates given a new series of vaccines generated antibodies capabl...
GM of the Year, Markets 51+: Rich ODell, WLTX, Columbia (S.C.)
