Rick Blangiardi Named To V.P. Position At CBS

Rick Blangiardi, former general manager of KING-TV, has been named vice president for new business, CBS television network sales.

He will be responsible for client and agency relationships for new business and accounts that will be returning to the network, Joseph Abruzzese, senior vice president for network sales, said yesterday.

Blangiardi, 45, was vice president and general manager at KING from 1989 until earlier this year, when he was fired when the Providence Journal Co. took over KING-TV. Prior to joining Seattle's NBC affiliate, he served for five years as vice president and general manager of KHNL-TV, an independent station in Honolulu.

"Rick Blangiardi is an accomplished television executive with an extensive background in sales and business development," said Abruzzese. "He is a strong addition to the CBS sales team."

Blangiardi's earlier broadcast experience includes seven years at KGMB-TV, the CBS affiliate in Honolulu, where he was general sales manager from 1982 to 1984. He also spent seven years coaching football at the University of Hawaii, leaving the school in 1977.