TV News Director Joins One of Florida’s Leading Public Relations Firms

Darren Richards of WTSP-TV will serve as Vice President of Tucker/Hall

Tampa, Fla. (September 10, 2009) – Tucker/Hall, Inc. has hired Darren Richards as Vice President. Richards will be leaving his position as news director at Tampa Bay’s WTSP-TV/10 Connects. 

“I’m sad to leave my friends and colleagues in this great newsroom,” said Richards. “We’ve built a terrific team that I’m sure will continue to be successful. I’m also excited about this new opportunity to help organizations communicate more effectively. The Tucker/Hall team is first class.” 

Throughout his career, Richards has been recognized with multiple Emmy, Edward R. Murrow, Associated Press and Society of Professional Journalist awards. The WTSP-TV/10 Connects newsroom was consistently the most honored newsroom in Florida under Richards' leadership. Richards has been with the station nearly five years. Prior to that, he was news director at WFMY-TV in Greensboro, North Carolina – one of the strongest CBS affiliates in the country.  In his 23 year professional news career, Richards worked in excellent newsrooms across the country, including two other Florida TV stations, WTLV-TV in Jacksonville and WINK-TV in Ft. Myers. 

“Darren will bring to our clients the perspective of running a major newsroom,” said Bill Carlson, President of Tucker/Hall. “While at 10 Connects he helped lead the effort to take the newsroom online and into social media. That experience of creating interactive relationships with the public is incredibly valuable to our clients these days – especially in the changing media environment.” 

Tucker/Hall is a communications consulting firm that offers public relations services in the areas of strategic communications, public affairs and crisis communications. Founded in 1990, Tucker/Hall has built a statewide, national and international practice from its Tampa base. The firm works with Fortune 500 corporations, fast growing companies, non profit organizations and government agencies.

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