Alan Pergament: Kate Welshofer has a new gig at the National Comedy Center (2024)

Kate Welshofer, the former host of the popular afternoon program “Most Buffalo” on WGRZ-TV (Channel 2), has started the next chapter in her career and it sounds like a perfect match.

Welshofer, who always was in good humor on “Most Buffalo” before leaving the station in December, was named the communications and content strategist for the National Comedy Center in Jamestown.

She was hired earlier this month and will be working remotely with frequent visits to the Comedy Center.

In her new role, Welshofer will supervise digital, social and broadcast content development in the marketing and communications department of the state-of-the-art museum that is the official cultural institution dedicated to comedy.

According to a release, she will work closely with the center’s programming, archives and operations teams and produce content designed to drive audience engagement and brand growth.

The release added that she will focus on building new strategic partnerships and media initiatives for the Comedy Center, broadening its press outreach, and supervising new projects to drive tourism, while serving as a press spokesperson and ambassador for the organization.

“I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to join the team at the National Comedy Center. Humor is a huge part of who I am, and I have long admired the Comedy Center for not only appreciating and celebrating the craft of comedy and its artists but also respecting, valuing and promoting the incredible power and importance of humor in all our lives,” stated Welshofer in a release.

“We’ve admired Kate’s work as a broadcast journalist for years. She knows how to tell stories well and how to engage audiences with compelling content,” stated National Comedy Center Executive Director Journey Gunderson in the same release. “We look forward to Kate’s important new role as we continue to fulfill the National Comedy Center’s mission to tell comedy’s vital story and preserve its heritage for generations to come.”

“With her extensive experience as a multimedia writer, journalist, content creator and speaker, Kate Welshofer brings extraordinary skill and talent to our communications team,” added Gary Hahn, vice president of marketing and communications.

Welshofer worked at WGRZ for six years after two decades working in cable news for Spectrum that was carried in Albany, Syracuse, Binghamton, Watertown, the Mohawk Valley and the Hudson Valley.

She also posted numerous entertaining videos on YouTube during that time.

The graduate of St. Bonaventure received two national Edward R. Murrow Awards in 2020 and 2021 for outstanding achievement in broadcast and digital journalism by the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA).

Since leaving Channel 2, Welshofer has written a column available on Substack that also appears in her hometown newspaper, the Perry Herald.

She will continue to write the column.

Speaking of former Channel 2 workers, meteorologist Carl Lam has joined KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh as a freelancer in the weather department to help cover vacations at the station. “Well, those breathers didn’t last long,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “OK, life is back to its chaotic self now.”

Lam, who left his part-time role in October as a meteorologist who primarily worked weekends at Channel 2, had a busy weekend covering some severe storms in the Pittsburgh area.

Recommended viewing: Netflix recently added the 2022 documentary, “Butterfly in the Sky,” about the creation of the PBS children’s series “Reading Rainbow.” The 90-minute film, named after lyrics of the show’s theme song, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival almost two years ago. It is bound to get much more attention now that it is being streamed.

The adorable, nostalgic film highlights the importance of host LeVar Burton, who was willing to do just about anything to help the series, to the program’s success.

The documentary about the creation of a TV series designed to get young children to read has several local angles.

It was co-produced by WNED-TV (Channel 17), the public television station here.

WNED’s Tony Buttino was one of the creators. WBEN-AM news anchor Tom Puckett was one of the young children who gave book reviews on the series. Canisius University communications professor Barbara Irwin, who was a project assistant on “Reading Rainbow,” appears along with another former WNED staffer, Pam Johnson.

The documentary also serves as an appetizer or a companion piece for the upcoming book, “Creating Reading Rainbow: The Untold Story of a Beloved Children’s Series,” that is being released in mid-June. It was written by Buttino, Irwin and Johnson.

The Elmira to Buffalo Express continues with the news that WETM news anchor Trina Catterson will be joining WIVB-TV (Channel 4) as a multimedia journalist (reporter) shortly. Both the Elmira and the Buffalo stations are owned by Nexstar. Catterson is a 2022 graduate of SUNY Oswego who has worked at the Elmira station for almost two years.

Catterson joins “Daytime Buffalo” host Chelsea Lovell, meteorologist Nick Guzzo and news anchor Jordan Norkus as WETM staffers who moved to Channel 4. Former WIVB reporter Tara Lynch, now a TV reporter in Baltimore, also worked at the Elmira station before joining Channel 4.