Jon Petrovich
Jon Petrovich (February 28, 1947 – February 10, 2011) was an American journalist and television executive. He is credited with founding numerous enterprises for CNN, including CNN.com, CNN Airport Network, and CNN en Español.
Biography
Petrovich was born in Gary, Indiana.[1] He earned a bachelor's degree from Indiana University and a master's degree from the University of Alabama.[citation needed]
Career
Petrovich began as a reporter for WHAS-TV in Louisville, Kentucky before moving on to become assistant News Director for WDIV-TV in Detroit, Michigan.[citation needed] He was news director at WBAL-TV in Baltimore, Maryland and later vice president and general manager of KTVI-TV in St. Louis, Missouri.[citation needed]
Petrovich was executive vice president for CNN's Headline News (now HLN) in Atlanta, Georgia. Ted Turner hired him to lead Headline News in the mid-1980s.[1] He oversaw CNN Radio and was directly involved in business development and marketing for all CNN networks. In 1994, he funded the establishment of CNN.com, and helped create CNN Airport Network and CNN en Español.[1] He is widely credited with launching CNN Radio Noticias, CNN NewsSource.[citation needed] While executive vice president of CNN Headline News, the network incorporated factoids into its on-air half-hour news wheel format.
After his role at CNN, Petrovich became president of Turner Broadcasting System Latin America.[citation needed] Petrovich was the head of international networks for Sony Television after leaving CNN.[1] Thereafter he was Professor and Broadcast Chair at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. In 2007 he became the head of U.S. broadcast operations for the Associated Press,[1] where he oversaw the day-to-day domestic operations, working directly with AP's broadcast wire, online, radio and television operations.
Death
Petrovich, died February 10, 2011 in New York from complications due to cancer and diabetes, leaving behind his wife Karen and two grown children.[1]
