Josh Morgan – Illinois News Broadcasters Association

WREX VP/GM Morgan takes new job in Atlanta; Reams to take over interim GM role

Administrator — Tue, 11 May 2021 23:38:34 +0000

ROCKFORD (INBA) – 13 WREX Vice President & General Manger Josh Morgan will be leaving the station later this month for a new job in Atlanta.

Morgan, who has been at WREX since 2013, has accepted the role of Director of Digital Media at CBS46 (WGCL). Morgan’s wife, former WREX evening anchor Kristin Crowley, recently accepted an investigative reporter position at 11Alive (WXIA) in Atlanta last month.

“While I am so sorry to see my time at WREX come to an end, I am so proud of what we were able to accomplish together,” Morgan said. “Rockford will forever have a large piece of my heart.”

Morgan served as news director from 2013 through 2019, before becoming station manager, followed by his promotion to VP/GM in 2020.

During his time at WREX, the 13 News team won more than 150 state, regional and national awards, including 21 Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards, two National Murrow Awards and a dozen Regional Emmy Awards, among several others.

Morgan has been on the INBA board since 2016 and served as president from 2018-2020. During his time he helped coordinate judging for the SINBA awards and the awards presentation. He also organized INBA’s Spring 2020 convention in Rockford, which was postponed to Fall 2021 due to the pandemic.

“INBA is an organization every journalist in the state of Illinois should be a part of,” Morgan said. “The people, the resources and opportunity to grow is unmatched by other professional organizations out there.”

Morgan will be replaced by Ed Reams, the current news director at WKOW in Madison, a sister station of WREX. Reams has been the news director at 27 News since 2014. Reams is an industry veteran, having worked at several stations across the country, including, WISN in Milwaukee, WHSV in Harrisonburg, Virginia and WDSU in New Orleans, among several others.

WREX and WKOW, who are both owned by Quincy Media, were recently purchased by Allen Media. The close of that acquisition is expected sometime later this year.

Morgan’s last day at WREX will be May 21.

Do you know an Illinois journalist who has been promoted, published great work, or just deserves recognition? Email INBA board member, Molly Jirasek, to submit story suggestions for our website: molly.jirasek@gmail.com.

President’s Report for November 2018

Administrator — Tue, 04 Dec 2018 17:35:35 +0000

First and foremost, I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. With Thanksgiving now behind us, I wanted to focus my report on preparing for 2019.

By INBA President Josh Morgan

First and foremost, I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. With Thanksgiving now behind us, I wanted to focus my report on preparing for 2019. As I'm sure many of you know, or have been told, 2019 might be a little tight for commercial broadcasters when it comes to money. Whether that is in the form of operating expenses or potential capital investments, 2019 will undoubtedly be a little less robust than 2018. A billionaire and almost-billionaire race for Governor always helps, doesn't it?

The reason I wanted to bring it up was because that doesn't mean the journalism has to suffer. Sure, we would all like a few more resources to be able to accomplish some bigger projects in 2019, but that doesn't mean we can't be effective. I am in the middle of building an operating plan for 2019 right now and my focus has moved from bigger projects to how to focus on the quality of content. Rather than 2019 being a tough year, I see it as an opportunity, and I would implore all of you journalists out there to take the same approach. We can't afford to take a year off of important reporting because money is tight.

Photo by Lee Milner

Of course, I know this idea hits close to home in Macomb, as Western Illinois University has cut off funding to Tri States Public Radio. Everything I just said above rings hollow when it's money that is truly the only thing standing in the way of quality journalism. I spoke with our Executive Secretary, Rich Egger, the News Director at Tri States Public Radio, who told me TSPR had a very successful Giving Tuesday campaign in which they started a major fundraising effort to make up for the $660,000 in funding cut by Western Illinois University. Most importantly, Rich says the station will continue to exist. He says the full-time employees who remain with the station are determined to keep TSPR on the air and reporting important news.

And the reporting they are doing, specifically the reporting on their own university, cannot be done without. Egger recently reported on OMA violations committed by WIU's Board of Trustees and administration. And that reporting continues today as the Attorney General's Office is reviewing other closed door meetings called to question by TSPR. You can see Egger's original report here . Whether the money is tight for you in 2019 or you are literally fighting to stay on the air, this is a year where we can all step back and remember why we got into this profession and how important our jobs are to the people we serve.

In other news, as they say, we are all set for our winter board meeting in January. We will be meeting on Saturday, January 12 at 10:30 a.m. at WEEK/WHOI in East Peoria. This will be the first official board meeting with the new board and my first as president. Of course, anyone is welcome to attend these board meetings if they have interest in joining us. I hear Peoria is beautiful in January!

And before I go, I want to thank Brian O'Keefe for leading a Giving Tuesday fundraiser on Facebook for the Illinois News Broadcasters Foundation. A really great idea to help raise money for the foundation. Thank you, Brian.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season!

President’s Report From New INBA President Josh Morgan

Administrator — Sat, 06 Oct 2018 20:05:45 +0000

Hello everyone, for those of you who do not know me, my name is Josh Morgan and I am honored to be the new President of the Illinois News Broadcasters Association. I want to start by thanking everyone for their support at the Fall Convention in Springfield and I humbled at the opportunity to lead this organization for at least the next year. I am currently the News Director at WREX-TV in Rockford, a position I have held since March 2013.

I want to start my first president's letter with a heartfelt thank you and congratulations to our newest past president, Laura Trendle-Polus. Laura led INBA as president for 3 years and has unquestionably put our organization in a great position to be successful over the coming years. Her hard work and dedication is contagious, and I only hope I can follow in her footsteps. So, on behalf of everyone at INBA, a big thank you to Laura for her service as president!

INBA President Josh Morgan and Immediate Past President Laura Trendle-Polus at the INBA Fall Convention

Photo Credit: Lee Milner

I am thrilled to be working alongside a wonderful group of INBA members and a board who volunteers so much of their time to make sure INBA is as strong as ever. I do want to take a second to recognize one of our outgoing board members, Bob Roberts, who after 20 years of service to INBA, has stepped down as he moves with his wife to South Carolina. Bob has been such an integral part of INBA over the years, especially with his expertise on FOIA/OMA. His vast knowledge has helped educate and support journalists statewide in their fight to hold our governments accountable. Bob, thank you for your dedicated service and passion for journalism. You will be missed here in Illinois.

Thank you for everyone who attended the Fall Convention in Springfield. We had a nice turnout and I thought the programming was both unique and thought-provoking. I was thrilled to see how many questions there were after each speaker. The number of questions is always a good indicator of interest. A gigantic THANK YOU to INBA Vice President Nora Baldner for putting this convention together!

It was a big week in Illinois for television broadcasters as the Regional Emmy Nominations were announced for the Chicago/Midwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Broadcasters, large and small, students and professionals, from across the state were recognized for their outstanding work over the last year. Congrats to all of the nominees and good luck bringing home those beautiful statuettes on November 10! The Mid-America Chapter just had their Emmy Gala a couple of weeks ago, and numerous students and professionals in the state were honored there, including our Recording Secretary, Jasmine Crighton's team at WIU. Congratulations, Jasmine!

As for me, I am writing this letter from Baltimore, Maryland at the 2018 Excellence in Journalism conference. This is one of the country's largest news conferences and the itinerary is full of great seminars and learning opportunities for people of all experiences and skill levels. I look forward to reporting some of what was learned in my next report.

I think that covers a lot of what I wanted to hit on in my first report. Now I look forward to getting to work for INBA as your president. Thank you again for all of your support and I am so excited for what the next year has in store.