6abc/WPVI-TV Philadelphia named John Morris its new president and general manager on Thursday, putting a longtime station executive in charge after Bernie Prazenica retired earlier this year.
Chad Matthews, president of ABC Owned Television Stations, announced the appointment and said Morris brings more than three decades of experience, deep institutional knowledge and a proven record of multiplatform leadership to the role. Matthews said Morris understands what makes WPVI trusted and successful and is the right leader to strengthen that foundation and expand the station’s reach across platforms.
Morris is not coming in from outside. He most recently served as vice president of Multiplatform Programming at 6abc/WPVI TV, where he oversaw the station’s digital platforms and some of its most popular programming. That role, which he took in 2017, came as the station merged its digital operations and programming departments.
His promotion follows the retirement of Prazenica, who stepped down after 17 years as president and general manager and more than four decades with ABC Owned Television Stations. The change keeps leadership in the hands of someone who has spent most of his career at the Philadelphia station and knows its audience, newsroom and daily production demands from the inside.
Morris began at WPVI-TV in 1993 as a news writer for Action News and spent more than 23 years in the news department. He later served as a newscast producer and executive producer for Philadelphia’s top-rated newscasts, and he also oversaw news productions for out-of-market events across the country and on five continents.
A Philadelphia native with lifelong ties to the community, Morris graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University with degrees in Journalism and Politics and Government. He began his professional career at WSYX-TV in Columbus, Ohio, before returning to Philadelphia and building the long run that now places him at the top of the station.
In a statement, Morris said he was proud and humbled to lead a team that has such a powerful and positive impact on Philadelphia every day, while continuing to lead the market in ratings and grow new audiences across digital platforms. He added that he is energized by the chance to build on a legacy of impactful local journalism and keep finding new ways to serve audiences on every platform.
The appointment gives Morris responsibility for a station whose footprint reaches beyond the evening newscast, including FYI Philly, Visions and the 6abc Thanksgiving Day Parade, one of the city’s enduring traditions and a broadcast more than 100 years old. The question now is not whether Morris knows the station — he does — but how he uses that familiarity to guide 6abc through its next phase while protecting the newsroom identity that has defined it for decades.