Judy Girard
Biography
Filmography
Biography
A veteran of local broadcasting, Judy Girard has plunged into programming for cable, and even briefly (1996-97) served as senior vice president for programming at Americast, a telephone company video-programming venture between Disney, GTE, SBC Communications and Southern New England Telecommunications. After a year's sabbatical, she joined The E.W. Scripps Company as senior vice president of programming and development, overseeing such cable channels as Home & Garden Television (HGTV), TV Food Network and the planned 1999 launch of DIY, The Do-It-Yourself network.
Girard began her career in television in 1968, benefiting from a national imperative to hire women in broadcasting. She got her start at WPVI-TV in Philadelphia, then moved to WBNG-TV (Binghamton, New York), where she served as program manager, and WOWK-TV (Huntington, West Virginia), where she functioned as station manager. Girard joined Hearst Broadcasting in 1979 as director of programming operations and promotion for two of the conglomerate's stations, WTAE-TV (Pittsburgh) and WBAL (Baltimore). After nearly six years with Hearst, she moved to NBC as director of operations and programming, connected to the network's purchase of WTVJ-TV in Miami. Two years later in 1989, Girard finally reached "the big time" of New York, joining flagship station WNBC-TV as director of broadcasting. She was later upped to vice president, program development for the NBC Owned and Operated Stations, responsible for the development of such network programs as "Sports Machine" and "Prime Suspect".
In 1993, Girard was appointed senior vice president of programming and production at Lifetime, steering that cable channel towards its niche targeted at female viewers. When she inherited the job, there was a backlog of program development, but she increased the channel's TV-movie production and renewed its focus on women. She joined Americast with the mandate to develop a 24-hour national service to be carried by the planned video systems of the telephone partners, which was expected to reach more than 65 percent of the USA. The company, however, scaled back its plans and abandoned its programming operations. After a year, during which Girard indulged in her hobby of mountain climbing by scaling Kilimanjaro, she was tapped to join Scripps.
Life Events
