Lorraine M. Snebold, a veteran local TV marketing executive who most recently worked for Nexstar’s NewsNation, died Sept. 28 in Augusta, Ga. She was 65.
Snebold was killed in an automobile accident in September.
Snebold worked as a marketing executive for Fox, CBS, National Geographic Channel, and many local TV stations. Snebold was the senior director of brand strategy at NewsNation, a cable news channel that Nexstar launched in September 2020 as part of its transformation of WGN America.
“Lorraine mentored our entire creative marketing team, taking us all under her wing on matters big and small, and worked closely with many of our talent as we started to expand NewsNation’s programming,” said Jonathan Killian, NewsNation’s vice president for marketing and brand communications. “Her amazing career speaks for itself, leading teams at winning national and local brands across the country and pioneering one of the industry’s most successful cable launches of all time, the National Geographic Channel. Lorraine was a special person.”
Early in her career, Snebold worked for local TV stations including WDBJ-TV in Roanoke, Va., Pittsburgh’s KDKA-TV Pittsburgh, KYW-TV in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.’s WTTG-TV.
Later, she founded the consulting company Absolute Focus. She worked with clients such as WQED Multimedia Pittsburgh or the Humane Society of the U.S.
Snebold is a dog lover and the founder of Petaw-graphy.com. A photo archive of funny pet pictures was turned into a line by Papyrus Recycled Paper Greetings greeting cards that can be found in Target and Walmart. Many of her photos feature Elmo, her beloved dog.
Snebold was also a keen scuba diver and sky diver as well as a volunteer at Special Olympics events.