Veteran Local Television Executive Returning to Stations Where He Began His Career

Current Duopoly President and General Manager Ed Piette Announces Retirement

            Mark Lund has been named President and General Manager of the CBS Television Station group's Boston stations, WBZ-TV and WSBK-TV, it was announced today by Peter Dunn, President, CBS Television Stations.

Lund is succeeding Ed Piette, who has announced his plans to retire after 43 years in local television, including the past six years with WBZ and WSBK, as of October 26.

A veteran of nearly 30 years in the local television industry who has most recently served as Executive Vice President of Sales for the NBC Owned Television Stations since July 2007, Lund is returning to Boston, where he previously spent a combined 11 years with WBZ and WSBK.

“We are extremely fortunate to have found someone who is ideally suited to succeed Ed and build on our Boston stations’ great legacy of community service and business success,” Dunn said.  “We are extremely pleased to welcome Mark back to the CBS family and have him return to the stations where his career began.  In addition to being highly respected by his peers across the country, Mark has great relationships with many of our business partners in the Boston market.  We look forward to having Mark lead the talented team of employees at WBZ and WSBK and collaborate with our CBS RADIO and CBS Local Media partners to help drive the continuing growth of all of our properties in New England.”

“Ed has been a valued colleague who has made numerous contributions to the success of our stations in Minnesota and New England during his nine years with CBS,” Dunn added.  “We are grateful for his leadership and wish him all the best that life as to offer as he prepares to start enjoying the exciting and relaxing next chapter of his life.”

“I am honored to have this terrific opportunity to rejoin CBS and come back to the stations where I got my start and an area that my wife Amy, a Boston College grad, and I have long considered our home,” Lund said.  “I’m excited to work with the great group of professionals that I know we have at WBZ and WSBK.”

“Working for CBS and collaborating with Peter and everyone else in this great company during the past nine years has been a perfect way to cap off my career in broadcasting,” Piette said.  “The only hard part about my decision is saying goodbye to the incredibly talented and dedicated team we have in Boston.  They have been terrific and I will be forever grateful for their support and friendship.  I’ll miss seeing them on a daily basis, but will enjoy being able to continue to cheer them on while leaning back in Cape Cod and spending time with my grandchildren.”

Lund’s connections to WBZ and WSBK date back to the early 1980s, when he got his start as an intern at WBZ then earned an entry-level position in the station’s traffic department.  In 1984, he began his career in sales as an account executive with WSBK (which at the time was owned by Storer Broadcasting).

Following two years as an account executive with Storer/Gillette in New York and three years as National Sales Manager at WFSB-TV in Hartford, Lund returned to Boston, where he served as Local Sales Manager and then General Sales Manager at WSBK.  He was promoted to Sales Manager at WBZ and WSBK in 1999.

In 2002, Lund joined NBC as Vice President of Sales for WNBC-TV in New York, a position he held for five years prior to being promoted to head sales for NBC’s 10 owned stations.  He has also overseen national spot sales for several Comcast Regional Sports Networks, including Comcast SportsNet New England.

Lund, who is the son of former CBS President Peter Lund, is actively involved in the broadcast industry as well as community organizations.  He is a member of the Executive Board of the Television Bureau of Advertising.  He is also a member of the board of Partnership with Children, which supports more than 13,000 high poverty elementary, middle and high school students annually in 26 schools across all five boroughs of New York City.

Lund graduated from St. Michael’s College in Winooski, Vermont with a B.A. in political science.  He and his wife Amy are the parents of six children.

About CBS Television Stations:

CBS Television Stations consists of 29 owned-and-operated stations, including 16 that are part of the CBS Television Network, eight affiliates of The CW Network, three independent stations and two MyNetworkTV affiliates. Among its stations are WCBS-TV and WLNY-TV (New York), KCBS-TV and KCAL-TV (Los Angeles), WBBM-TV (Chicago), KYW-TV and WPSG-TV (Philadelphia), KTVT-TV and KTXA-TV (Dallas-Ft. Worth), KPIX-TV and KBCW-TV (San Francisco), WBZ-TV and WSBK-TV (Boston), WUPA-TV (Atlanta), WWJ-TV and WKBD-TV (Detroit), KSTW-TV (Seattle), WTOG-TV (Tampa-St. Petersburg), WCCO-TV (Minneapolis), KCNC-TV (Denver), WFOR-TV and WBFS-TV (Miami), KOVR-TV and KMAX-TV (Sacramento), KDKA-TV and WPCW-TV (Pittsburgh), WJZ-TV (Baltimore), as well as WCCO-TV’s satellite stations KCCO-TV (Alexandria, MN) and KCCW-TV (Walker, MN).

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Press Contacts:             

Mike Nelson          (818) 655-2156           mjnelson@cbs.com

Ro Dooley-Webster  (617) 787-7083  rcdooley@cbs.com