News Director

KX News is searching for a strong mentor to become our next News Director. Our commitment of putting North Dakota First is demonstrated by the 36.5 hours of newscasts and lifestyle programming we produce a week.

Our market covers half the state of North Dakota. KX News has studios in Bismarck and Minot. In the last year, we added KX News at 4 and expanded KX News at 6 to an hour-long newscast. The right candidate will understand the importance of executing our mission of leading local through enterprise storytelling. We’re looking for someone who sets high standards and supports the team to achieve those goals.

North Dakota offers plenty of year-round outdoor adventures from snowboarding at Huff Hills to biking along the Bismarck Riverfront. Come experience and be part of the growth of North Dakota’s capital city.

The News Director leads and supervises all aspects of news, weather, and sports programming production.

Manages all aspects of the News Department (other than Production)
• Plans and manages staffing, training, and performance evaluations for the News Department.
• Makes decisions regarding hiring, evaluation, promotion, and termination of employees.
• Develops news coverage strategy for the station and its website.
• Critiques newscasts daily to correct errors, improve coverage and provide mentoring feedback to news staff.
• Assigns projects to staff and verifies that deadlines are being met.
• Ensures achievement of viewer rating goals.
• Determines programming and evaluation of equipment needs to produce quality programming.
• Responds to coverage questions.
• Works with other senior station leaders to establish and reach station goals.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Requirements & Skills:

• Bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Journalism, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and work-related experience.
• Fluency in English.
• Excellent communication skills, both oral and written.
• Minimum five years’ experience in news programming production, with at least two years’ experience in a leadership role. (More or less depending on market size.)
• Experience guiding, directing, and motivating subordinates, including setting performance standards and monitoring performance.
• Experience establishing long-range objectives and specifying the strategies and actions to achieve them.
• Ability to identify the developmental needs of others and to coach, mentor or otherwise help others to improve their knowledge or skills.
• Experience preparing and maintaining departmental budgets.
• Proficiency with computers, telephones, copiers, scanners, fax machines and other office equipment.
• Ability to meet deadlines, prioritize assignments and handle multiple tasks simultaneously.
• Ability to effectively listen to fully understand employee needs and communicate with a team to shape a solution.