KFVS12 gets new general manager

Raycom Media announced multiple staffing changes to their stations Monday. Both Tim Ingram and Dave Thomason will be changing positions by the end of the month.

Dave Thomason was announced as the successor to Tim Ingram, who has served as the vice president and general manager of KFVS12 and WQWQ, Raycom Media's CBS and CW affiliates in Cape Girardeau, since 2011. Ingram will be moving to New Orleans, where he has accepted the position of vice president and general manager of WVUE in New Orleans. WVUE is owned by Louisiana Media Co. and is managed by Raycom Media.

"My children, my wife, we love Cape Girardeau, the family, the friends that we have here. It's only been three years, but we've made a lot of friends over the last three years," Ingram said. "We're going to hate leaving those folks behind, but the opportunity to run a television station, one of the premiere stations in our country, it just beckoned and we took the call."

Ingram and his family will be moving at the end of January, and what Ingram is looking forward to most is giving up his snow shovel.

"Down there it snows once every five years. I will not miss the cold air," Ingram said with a chuckle.

Dave Thomason

Working with KFVS12 and WQWQ for several years Ingram has really grown to love the people and organizations he's worked with. Ingram is a part of The Missouri Broadcasters Association, The Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce, Old Town Cape and The United Way. He sits on the Southeast Missouri State University Mass Communications Advisory Board, The Arkansas State University College of Communications Advisory Board, and is a member of the Cape West Rotary.

"[What I am going to miss most is] the people. The people in this area that we like to call the heartland have just been phenomenal. ... Whether it's the leaders in the business community -- which is strong, we've got a strong business community in the heartland -- civic leaders, everybody does things the right way and always has the best of intentions and I am going to miss that mid-south, mid-southern, mid-western culture that we have here," Ingram said.

Thomason has been the general sales manager of KFVS12 and WQWQ since 2011. He previously was the director of sales for KOLR (CBS) and KSFX (FOX) in Springfield, Missouri, and has had a career in broadcast sales for more than 20 years.

As the successor to Ingram, Thomason is confident in his ability to continue leading Raycom's stations in the right direction.

"We have a great team. There's some things that are new for me, a couple of the departments, but in general I get the station. I've been here two and a half years. I know all the players, the players are great, so I look for a seamless transition," Thomason said.

Together, Thomason and Ingram have worked together renovating the news facility in Hirsch Tower, and both agreed that all the changes that have been made were very positive and are going to lead to continuing success at KFVS12.

"I didn't get to pick my successor, my successor was picked above me in the food chain, but I have to say I couldn't have picked a better one," Ingram said. "Dave, with the assets that he has and what he brings to our station and the community to continue on -- he will take KFVS and WQWQ both to new heights. I couldn't be more proud of a successor."

smaue@semissourian.com

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