Alisha McDevitt, news director of WMUR-TV, has been promoted to WMUR president and general manager. (Courtesy photo)
Alisha McDevitt, longtime news director of WMUR-TV, the Hearst Television ABC affiliate in Manchester, has been promoted to WMUR president and general manager effective immediately.
McDevitt, who in July will celebrate 30 years at WMUR, succeeds Andrew Vrees, who recently was named president and general manager of WCVB-TV, Hearst’s ABC affiliate in Boston.
“Alisha has been instrumental in the success of WMUR throughout her entire career in television,” says Hearst Television President Michael J. Hayes. “Her accomplishments overseeing the WMUR newsroom, building upon the station’s nationally recognized news brand, and forging deep relationships across New England made her the ideal person to lead this station which is so important to the region and the country.
WMUR, which celebrated its 70th anniversary last year, in recent years alone it has earned multiple regional Edward R. Murrow Awards, New England Emmy Awards and National Headliner Awards. In 2017 it was recognized with the National Association of Broadcasters’ Service to Children Award for its “Home at Last” series of recurring segments, championed by McDevitt, on the station’s “New Hampshire Chronicle” program. Launched in 2014 and continuing today, the segments have helped find permanent adoptive homes for dozens of NH children living in out-of-home placement.
McDevitt undertook her career at a young age. While still a journalism student at the University of NH she reported for the Gloucester Daily Times in her native Gloucester, Mass., later working part-time at WMUR and then joining the station full-time in 1995 after her graduation. She was promoted to WMUR’s political producer in 1998, to assistant news director in 2003 and news director in 2009. She has co-produced dozens of political specials and debates for WMUR, many carried across the Hearst Television group and by various network partners. Among other journalistic honors she’s earned several Edward R. Murrow Awards, including a team award for Overall Excellence in the 2020 Murrow Regional Awards, and an Emmy for WMUR’s coverage of the 2008 NH Primary.
McDevitt serves on the board of the Radio Television Digital News Association and on the ABC News Advisory Board. She was named the NH Association of Broadcasters “Broadcaster of the Year” in 2019. McDevitt is a graduate of the National Association of Broadcasters’s 2023 Business Leadership Training program and the Hearst Management Institute, an executive leadership training program. She has completed five Boston Marathons to raise funds for Special Olympics of NH and Tedy’s Team.