ABC News Introduces Dual EPs
• ABC News announced Laura Mayer as new Executive Producer of Podcast Programming at ABC Audio, and Eric Ortega as the new Executive Producer of ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis.
A memo from ABC News President Kim Godwin reads, in part, “Laura Mayer will be the creative lead of our stellar podcast team, which has big plans for 2023, including the launch of a new true crime series next week and the return of Life Out Loud with LZ Granderson later this month. She will work closely with Josh Cohan, Director of Podcast Programming, to develop ABC Audio’s content strategy and then implement that strategy with the production team, overseeing the process from greenlight to publish. Laura will report to Liz Alesse, Vice President of ABC Audio.”
Podcasting pro Mayer was the first employee at Slate’s podcast network, Panoply, and served as Executive Producer of New Show Development at Stitcher. In 2019, she co-founded Three Uncanny Four Productions with Sony Music, and served as COO of the joint venture. Mayer began her public radio career at WNYC/New York.
The Emmy-winning Ortega will oversee ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis and all of ABC News Live’s evening programming, reporting to Seni Tienabeso, Executive Director of ABC News Live. Godwin noted, “Most recently, Eric worked as Sr. Producer at VICE News, where he assisted in relaunching VICE News Tonight. He also created and served as showrunner for the political series Breaking the Vote and the digital show Field Notes. Eric previously spent seven years at NBC/MSNBC, climbing his way up the ladder from page to line producer. Before news, Eric worked in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. He is a proud member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.” [Laura Mayer photo: Dan Blondell]
