WWSB's Jeff Schlesser to receive 2025 Loren Tobia Leadership Award
The Radio Television Digital News Association is honored to announce that Jeff Schlesser, news director at WWSB in Florida, has been selected as the 2025 recipient of RTDNA’s Loren Tobia Leadership Award.
The Loren Tobia Leadership Award is given annually to a journalist who exemplifies true leadership within their company or organization during a given year.
Schlesser joined WWSB-TV, Gray Media’s ABC affiliate serving Manatee and Sarasota counties on Florida’s Suncoast, in September 2020. He remains committed to growing the ABC7, First Alert Weather and MySuncoast.com brands across all broadcast, digital and social platforms.
Since arriving at WWSB, Schlesser and his team have worked behind the scenes to build structure that supports the station’s 54 hours per week of locally produced programming. They have also focused on recruiting and developing a team of journalists dedicated to covering the southern portion of the Tampa Bay media market. Together, they’ve updated the station’s look, reporting and producing style.
Under Schlesser’s leadership, the newsroom has added newscasts in several dayparts, including Good Morning Suncoast Weekends, an hourlong 10 a.m. weekday newscast, and a half-hour weekday newscast at 3:30 p.m. The team also relaunched ABC7 Sports and evolved the ABC7 First Alert Traffic brand. The newsroom is now focused on breaking stories on the station’s website and using tools like the ABC7 Newsroom Live Desk to connect with viewers in new, innovative ways.
“For decades, Loren Tobia led and mentored journalists in an exemplary fashion. To receive a leadership award in his name means you have distinguished yourself in the same manner. What a great honor,” said RTDNA President and CEO Dan Shelley.
The honor highlights someone who represents one of RTDNA's core values — leadership — and is recognized at all three signature events: the annual RTDNA conference, the First Amendment Awards and the Edward R. Murrow Awards Gala.
Schlesser will be recognized first at RTDNA25 in New Orleans, June 11-13.
Prior to WWSB, Schlesser served as news director at WCTV-TV, Gray’s CBS affiliate in Tallahassee. During his five-year term, he helped maintain the station’s dominance in the market while expanding its on-air and online offerings. The news department added an additional hour of news and launched a new newsroom, studio, set and graphics package.
While at WCTV, the station received two NAB Leadership Foundation Service to America Awards and was twice named Station of the Year by the Florida Association of Broadcast Journalists.
Schlesser grew up in the Chicago suburbs and has worked in multiple markets in Wisconsin as a reporter and producer. He also spent several years in special projects with the FOX-owned station group in Milwaukee and Tampa. He is a graduate of Marquette University in Milwaukee.
He and his partner, Alan, live in Bradenton, Florida. Alan is a franchising officer for McDonald’s Corporation, supporting states throughout the Midwest. They remain close with their family and enjoy spoiling their nieces and nephews as often as possible.