Laid-off Channel 2 news director Carl Bilek lands at 7News

In an interview for the blog "Fox 31 General Manager Dennis Leonard on Current Rumors, Future Changes," the new top dog at Channel 31 addressed the recent departure of news director Brad Remington, who accepted a similar position at KTVK-TV in Phoenix. In noting that he's still looking to fill the local job, Leonard said that former Channel 2 news director Carl Bilek, who was among around thirty folks laid off as the result of a merger described in the October Message column "Channels 2 and 31 Mix It Up," wasn't in the running. That's because Bilek was just hired at 7News, as he describes in the following e-mail.

Yes, it's true! I started at KMGH last Monday, December 8. I'm the executive producer of news gathering, overseeing content development for all of KMGH's news platforms and working directly with the reporters on storytelling and details. It's an evolutionary job in terms of the direction it takes and is very exciting, bringing me back to my hands-on creative roots while still maintaining a newsroom management opportunity.

This development should cheer up those onetime Channel 2 staffers still searching for employment. New journalism jobs are mighty tough to come by, but a few of them still exist. Bilek is living proof. -- Michael Roberts