Former KFVS12 manager returning to Cape to run two stations

Former KFVS12 general manager Mike Smythe, who retired in November, is returning to Cape Girardeau to head KBSI FOX 23 and its sister station, WDKA in Paducah, Ky.

Those stations haven't had a general manager based in Cape Girardeau instead of St. Louis for more than eight years, Smythe said, but their parent company, Sinclair Broadcast Group, is putting more emphasis on local involvement.

"It's a unique opportunity for me. They want to become more local, and they've started that with their local newscast," Smythe said.

While serving as KFVS12 general manager, Smythe worked with KBSI in 2010 on a deal to air KFVS12 Heartland News at 9 p.m. on KBSI.

Sinclair's television group includes 20 FOX, 18 MyTV, 11 ABC, 14 CW, nine CBS stations and one NBC affiliate reaching about 26 percent of all U.S. television households.

After retiring last fall from KFVS, owned by Raycom Media, and moving closer to family in Toledo, Ohio, he said never expected to be coming back to Cape Girardeau. He said he couldn't pass up the chance to come back to what he called a "great media town."

He's moving back this week and will start as general manager at KBSI and WDKA on Feb. 27. Smythe came to Cape Girardeau in 1998 and was the second-longest-serving manager of KFVS after its founder, Oscar Hirsch.

Smythe's on-air editorial segments called "ViewPoint" won him several awards, including nine Missouri Broadcasters Association awards for best editorial and an Emmy Award in 2010.

Smythe said he's looking forward to becoming involved in the Cape Girardeau community once again. He said he will resume his roles as chairman of the Missouri Broadcasters Association and as a member of the Southeast Missouri State University Foundation board.

mmiller@semissourian.com

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