For 25 Years at Philly’s WPVI, Mike Monsell Does News Marketing Different Than Anyone Else-FREE READ

By Paul Greeley, 817-578-6324, Paul@NewsBlues.com

NOTE: Happy Holidays from News Blues.

 News Blues is a subscription-based news source.  However, on occasion, we offer articles, some previously published, for free so that non-subscribers can see the type of stories we published regularly here.

At Today’s News Blues, the new management team all have deep and extensive backgrounds in local TV news and want to highlight the positive and successful work done on the ground by local TV stations in news, marketing and sales.

Once you’re a member, you can enjoy reading all of the articles published since News Blues came under new management in early 2024, as well as what we’re publishing today and in the future.

Enjoy this story and take advantage of our discount subscription off from now until the end of December. Go to NEWS BLUES subscription page, https://newsblues.com/subscribe/

Enter discount code, FallSavings, to redeem your special three-month subscription for only $9.95.

Mike Monsell got his Tinkerbell, the statue given to ABC employees in recognition of 25 years of service.

Monsell was presented his 25th anniversary statue by Bernie Prazenica, WPVI’s GM for “coming up with crazy ideas to market Action News since 1999,” Prazenica says.

Monsell started as the assistant creative services director, but for the past 20 years, he’s been the Vice President of Marketing at WPVI, the ABC O&O in Philadelphia.

Longevity and stability are the norm for people who work at WPVI, both in front of and behind the cameras. In terms of revenue and ratings, WPVI has been the dominant local TV news source in Philadelphia for the past 40 years.

Jim Gardner spent 46 years in the anchor chair on Action News before retiring in 2022.

Prazenica’s been the GM at the station for 18 years. Tom Davis has been the news director for 20 years and John Morris, the VP of Content and Innovation, started at WPVI 30 years ago as a writer and associate producer.

Monsell posted on Facebook about his 25 years saying, “On August 2, 1999, I walked through the hallowed doors of ABC in Philadelphia. I was excited, nervous, and completely in awe of where I was. I had zero expectations….I just wanted to be good enough to belong. Certainly, I didn’t expect to be walking through these hallowed doors 25 years later. It’s been an amazing run – the projects I’ve worked on have been career-fulfilling, but the best part of the last quarter century has been all the amazingly good people that I’ve met. I don’t believe in luck, but I am indeed lucky. I am forever grateful.”

One of the comments under his Facebook post captured the significance:  “Longevity in a large market says a lot about your talent & creativity!”

I reached out to Monsell to ask him some questions and here’s the transcript of my questions and his answers along with examples of news promos Monsell did for WPVI.

GREELEY: You mention that when you started, you were excited, nervous, and completely in awe of where you were.

MONSELL: As a college student in broadcasting, you begin hearing about this mythical TV station in Philadelphia. And all my college friends from Philly were always like “Jim Gardner, Jim Gardner, Jim Gardner.” I was so intrigued by this legendary anchor at this monster tv station. And then when I broke into the business, I started learning more and more about WPVI. It was the station that everyone tried to emulate. I remember going to Promax and seeing folks with WPVI badges and thinking “wow, I wonder what it’s like to work there”. So when I did get hired, yeah, I was super excited, and nervous, and intimidated the first few months. I tried not to show my cards, though. It was like I got called up to the majors and got sent straight to the all-star game.

GREELEY: How did you end up at WPVI?

MONSELL: Hopefully my story will inspire others hang in there seize the opportunity when it presents itself.

I had some success in college television. I won a national award for a comedy show I hosted at school, so I thought there would be multiple jobs waiting for me when I graduated. That did not happen. Not even close. It was very humbling.
I was living in Lancaster and doing freelance production and waiting tables at 3 different restaurants to pay my rent. After 9 months, I told my parents that I was giving up on TV and moving home. My lease was up at the end of the summer, so I planned to move home and get a job at the steel mill or whatever.
But just a few weeks later, I got a call from WHTM in Harrisburg. They wanted me for a temp job in promotion. It wasn’t the permanent job I wanted, but I took it. I will never forget – my first promo ran on Thanksgiving Day 1994. I was home with family and we all watched together. It was a special moment.
Knowing that my job could end at any time, I kept applying for full time work. And just a few months later I got a full-time job offer. In fact, I got two offers…on the same day! After a year of no luck, I suddenly had too much luck!

I had to choose between the sandy beaches of Myrtle or stay in market and go to our powerhouse competitor – WGAL in Lancaster. I chose WGAL because I thought I could learn more there, and it was closer to home. It was the right decision. At ‘GAL, I learned how to craft messages. I learned how to deal with a competitive culture. And I learned how to be tough, which I wasn’t when I got there. And it was there where I first worked with legendary TV executive Rebecca Campbell. Back then, she was a young starving producer, just like me.

My boss at WGAL was Cil Frazier. Sadly, Cil passed away this year. Cil was a fierce competitor. From her, I learned how to channel my inner creative to win in business. She pushed me into places I was not ready to go, and she made me discover what I was capable of. The true turning point in my career came at WGAL. I had this idea for a commercial, and the only way I can describe it – it could be funny, but it could be dangerous. We were a dominant #1 station so we never took any chances. But for whatever reason, Cil told us to go make some spec spots, using co-workers as actors.
We filmed the spots at a local middle school, and a week later, we had a 3-spot campaign for “News Class 101”. Station management loved the spots but thought they did not align with our brand. The promos were super-edgy and threw shade at our competition which we never do.
But the planets were aligned for this to happen. The band LIVE (a widely popular music act from our market) was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live that weekend, so they thought – why not.
It’s SNL, it’s supposed to be irreverent and funny. So ultimately, they decided to run each spot ONE time during the show, and then pretend it never happened, HaHa.

The following Monday at work was crazy. Newspapers were writing about it. Radio DJ’s were talking about it. LIVE was on SNL and no one was talking about their performance. Everyone was talking about these biting promos that aired. Don’t ask to see the spots. I was instructed to “burn the tapes” after they aired. But if you dig deep enough, you’ll find them somewhere on the internet.

(I dug deep enough and here they are. The numbers on the hats represent the different stations and how they were stereotyped in Lancaster at the time.)

MONSELL: After four years at WGAL, I started targeting Philadelphia. My first Philly interview was with the NBC affiliate, but they passed on me. Luckily, a few months later, WPVI did not pass on me. Caroline Welch hired me as her no. 2 she says because the promos on my demo reel were different than everyone else’s.

GREELEY:  What was it like in the first few months?

MONSELL:  My first few months at WPVI were a whirlwind.   I don’t recall much, but I do remember feeling the weight of this place.  Everything was bigger.  Stakes were higher.  And the competitive fire of this place was off the charts.  I like to win, but the folks at WPVI had to win.  And when we did win, it was never by a wide enough margin.  There was never any complacency with us.