Crossing the Street in Chi-Town

In a significant move within the nation's third-largest media market, Nexstar Media Group's WGN-TV has hired Akemi Harrison as its new Director of News and Multiplatform Content, effective August 25.

Harrison is joining WGN from a direct competitor, NBC Chicago (WMAQ), where she served as News Director and worked just across the Chicago River from WGN's studios.

At WGN, Harrison will be responsible for all news operations for the station's broadcast, streaming (WGN+), and digital platforms. The hire represents a key leadership change at WGN-TV, a station with a national profile due to its long history as a cable superstation and its ownership by Nexstar, the largest local television station owner in the United States.

Harrison was named News Director at NBC Chicago in 2023 after joining as Assistant News Director in 2021. Her career spans more than two decades and includes roles as Assistant News Director at WVIT/NBC Connecticut, Executive Producer for WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh, and other news management positions in the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento, California.

Harrison recently earned a National Emmy Award for her collaborative work on NBC Chicago’s series, “The Lost Story of Emmett Till.” A graduate of Tougaloo College, she began her career in radio in her home state of Mississippi before moving to television news production.