Janene Drafs, KTLA Los Angeles General Manager, Named 'MCN’ 2024 Woman of Influence

Michael Malone
·2 min read
Janene Drafs.
Janene Drafs.

Janene Drafs, VP and general manager of KTLA Los Angeles, is the 2024 Multichannel News Woman of Influence, to be honored at the Wonder Women of Los Angeles celebration. The first female GM in KTLA history when she took over in 2020, Drafs oversees an extraordinary station. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, KTLA airs a whopping 112 hours a week of local programming. Weekday news goes 4 a.m. to 2 p.m. After a daily talk show, it’s local news until 7 p.m., and again after The CW primetime.

"It’s especially rewarding to  be recognized among such talented and respected women in media," Drafs said.

Viewers have a wide array of content choices available to them on an array of platforms, but Drafs says what’s happening in their community often has the most relevance. “I came up through the business side of this industry, but I have come to love and appreciate the news side and the content side,” she said.

With the vast majority of KTLA’s programming produced in-house, Drafs spoke about “having the most control we can at the local level,” to best serve Los Angeles viewers.

Drafs will be toasted at the Wonder Women of Los Angeles event, June 18 at The Ebell in Los Angeles. Fifteen female executives in television, representing the best and brightest in the business, will be celebrated at the gala breakfast. In addition, LaKendra Davis Moxie, VP of fulfillment operations at Cox Communications, will be honored as The WICT Network of Southern California's Catalyst Award winner at the event.

Giselle Fernandez, Spectrum News 1 anchor, was the 2023 Woman of Influence at Wonder Women of Los Angeles. Holly Robinson Peete, actress, producer and talk show host, was the Woman of Influence in 2022, and Deborah Norville, anchor of Inside Edition, got the honor in 2021.