Thad Randazzo Joins WWSB ABC 7 as Digital Content Manager

The local television news landscape in Sarasota gained a new digital strategist when Thad Randazzo joined WWSB ABC 7 in July 2025. His official profile on wbbjtv.com outlines a career trajectory that mirrors the broader industry shift from traditional broadcast to digital-first content operations.

Randazzo's background is rooted in Central New York. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from SUNY Polytechnic Institute in 2014 with a B.S. in Communication & Information Design and a minor in Technology in Culture. The same year, SUNY Poly faculty honored him with the Communication Design Award for outstanding creative work.

His media career began in 2019 as a camera operator for WUTR/WFXV in Utica, NY. The pandemic era became a pivot point. He was promoted to Web Content Coordinator and later recognized as a 'Nexstar Digital Influencer' in 2021 after growing the station's loyal online audience by 235% in just one year. That kind of growth metric is the kind of number that gets noticed in corporate boardrooms (and probably earns you a nicer desk).

Before arriving in Florida, Randazzo served as Digital Content Manager at WFXR in Roanoke, Virginia. His current role at WWSB ABC 7 involves leading the station's digital strategy across web, mobile, social media, and CTV platforms. The job requires managing the friction between breaking news deadlines and the slower, more deliberate process of crafting shareable digital content.

What distinguishes Randazzo from typical digital managers is his formal training in artificial intelligence. He holds certifications in Prompt Engineering, AI for Project Management, and Generative AI Applications. He regularly experiments with AI-based assistants, data analysis agents, and image generation platforms. This isn't just hobbyist tinkering—it's a deliberate skill set that positions him at the intersection of journalism and emerging technology.

The industry context matters here. Local news stations have been struggling with declining traditional viewership while trying to capture digital ad revenue. A 235% audience growth achievement in 2021 suggests Randazzo understands how to build loyal online communities, not just chase viral traffic. The difference between those two approaches is the difference between sustainable revenue and a one-time spike.

Outside the newsroom, Randazzo maintains an active personal life as a father, competitive paintball player, motorcycle rider, mentor, and video game streamer. These interests aren't just resume padding—they inform how he approaches audience engagement. Understanding gaming culture and streaming platforms translates directly to understanding how younger demographics consume news content.

His profile also appears on Help A Reporter, where he lists his expertise as Digital Media/AI Development. The platform notes his contact email as [email protected], which reflects his previous station affiliation rather than his current Sarasota position.

The convergence of traditional broadcast experience with generative AI certification is becoming more common in media, but it's still not the norm. Most local newsrooms are still figuring out how to integrate AI tools without compromising editorial standards or alienating their core audience. Randazzo's approach appears to be hands-on experimentation rather than theoretical adoption.

Whether this combination of skills translates to measurable success at WWSB ABC 7 remains to be seen. The local news market is competitive, and digital strategy alone doesn't guarantee viewership growth. But the infrastructure for modern content distribution is now in place, and someone with his background is positioned to navigate it.

The real test won't be whether he can use AI tools—it'll be whether the audience can tell the difference between human reporting and algorithmic content. And if they can't, that's a problem nobody wants to solve.

Artūras Malašauskas is an AI Systems Integrator with 20+ years of production-grade web engineering experience. He has designed, shipped, and scaled enterprise Python/PHP systems for logistics, SaaS, and public-sector clients. For the past year, he has focused exclusively on AI integrations: deploying open-source LLMs, building generative media pipelines (image, audio, video), and engineering multi-agent workflows for real production environments. His standard: reproducibility, security, cost-efficient inference—no vaporware. He documents and evaluates emerging AI tooling, separating verified capabilities from marketing noise. Technical editor at: muza-ai.eu, ai-verslas.lt, ai-naujinos.lt Connect on LinkedIn