Rex Sikes Movie Beat chats w TV executive Jim McKairnes PT 2

Jim McKairnes is 23-year veteran of the TV industry, 15 at CBS is currently, a producer and television consultant, and an adjunct college-instructor/guest-lecturer and author. He moved to  L.A. in 1989 to work in the TV-business as a programmer. There, Norman Lear led Jim to CBS President Jeff Sagansky who hired for the Scheduling department. McKairnes was part of the team that took the network from worst in the 90s to first in the 2000s under CBS President Leslie Moonves. He created and produced the prime-time series “CBS Moments,” he was instrumental in the development of several made-for-TV movies and network specials; and contributed to various promotional campaigns each season of his tenure. After 13 years as a Sr Vice-President at CBS, he was recruited by Discovery Communications in 2006 to head up that Maryland-based company’s 11 networks as its Executive VP of Scheduling. Later, he returned in L.A. to return to CBS, to serve as Senior VP in charge of developing new comedies for its cable division from 08 to 10.  He's published 2 books on the TV industry and serves as a consultant for various TV networks, speaks at colleges and holds an adjunct-faculty position at Chicago’s DePaul University teaching a self-created “TV 101” course. He mentors upcoming industry hopefuls; and he works with the Television Academy on its long-standing Archive project, interviewing key figures who contributed to the medium’s history. He also created a web series about television for TV.com; and, in 2013, served as executive-producer of a planned cable talk-show. Stay tuned to Rex Sikes Movie Beat for other great archived interviews, cast and crew listings, events, festivals, premieres, and more at rexsikes.com

---

Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rex-sikes/support