Kayla Crandall — Digital Content Strategist

SEGMENT — THE NUMBERS

Audience growth, by the numbers

Every figure below is a strategy outcome, built from content decisions, platform experiments and team execution, not a one-off spike.

62%

Year-over-year growth in streaming watch time, outpacing the company-wide average across the network.

94%

Year-over-year growth in on-platform video plays, driven by a rebuilt live-streaming strategy.

142K

YouTube subscribers built from the ground up, earning Google's Silver Play Button.

41.9M

YouTube views generated in a single calendar year (74% growth year over year).

25M+

Views across the station's all-time top 10 YouTube videos.

60%

Year-over-year growth in search referral traffic after an SEO overhaul.

300%

Growth in YouTube Shorts views after a deliberate mobile-video pivot.

50%+

Compounding growth in streaming minutes watched, two years running.

126+ yrs

Of cumulative content watched by one audience, on one platform, in one year.

3

New streaming newscasts conceived, launched and staffed in a single year.

SEGMENT — CAREER PATH

Ten years of increasing scope

From producing weekend newscasts to running digital strategy for an entire station — each role added a new platform, a bigger team, or both.

Digital Content ManagerWZZM — Grand Rapids, Mich. · 2021–Present

Recruited, trained and led a team of eight journalists; built the station's OTT streaming app into a 10,500-user platform averaging an hour per visit, and overhauled SEO strategy for a 60% lift in search traffic.

Social Media & Digital Content ManagerWPTA — Fort Wayne, Ind. · 2019–2021

Managed content across two websites, two news apps and social media; grew Facebook engagement 132% and partnered across newsroom, marketing, sales and corporate teams to keep brand voice consistent everywhere a story appeared.

Internet Director / Weekend ProducerFort Wayne's NBC — Fort Wayne, Ind. · 2016–2019

Produced weekend newscasts and led the newsroom's shift to digital-first workflows, growing weekend audience share by 15% and using early analytics tools to inform daily coverage decisions.

SEGMENT — CRISIS AND REAL-TIME LEADERSHIP

When the story can't wait, neither can the strategy

A newsroom manages the same pressures as a crisis communications team: incomplete information, high public stakes and multiple stakeholders needing accurate updates in real time.

Mass-casualty campus shootingReported and edited under extreme public scrutiny

Wrote and edited ongoing coverage of a university mass-shooting investigation, balancing the public's need for safety information against sensitivity toward victims and their families, including deliberate calls on content warnings, image redaction and where to place mental-health resources.

Outcome: sustained public trust through a sensitive, high-traffic story without editorial missteps.

Multi-week murder trial60+ hours of continuous coverage

Directed simultaneous coverage across streaming, YouTube and a live blog for a high-profile trial — coordinating editors, producers, directors and reporters in real time across every testimony day.

Outcome: the platform's best single-day streaming performance on record.

Severe weather and tornado outbreaksStanding rapid-response playbook

Built and maintained a repeatable operating model for breaking-weather coverage, with pre-set rules for when to interrupt scheduled programming and go live, so decisions during a crisis are fast and consistent rather than improvised.

Outcome: severe weather events consistently rank among the highest-engagement periods of the year.

Statewide election cycleMulti-week, multi-platform planning

Owned digital strategy across a high-volume news cycle spanning candidate visits, debate coverage and results-night programming across web, app and streaming.

Outcome: one of the highest-traffic sustained periods of the year, planned rather than reactive.

SEGMENT — STRATEGY AND WRITING

Still in the field

I lead the team, but I also still write and report: bylined coverage spanning breaking news, enterprise business reporting and fast-turn service journalism.

Breaking News

MSU Police release note found on shooter

Careful, fact-based reporting on a sensitive investigation, structured to inform without sensationalizing.

Read the piece →

Business and Development

Grand Rapids riverfront development project unveiled

Enterprise reporting on a $738 million redevelopment, translating dense planning documents into a clear public story.

Read the piece →

Feature Reporting

Michigan's fall salmon run in full swing despite hot weather

Original, source-driven feature built on an interview with a state fisheries expert rather than aggregation.

Read the piece →

Rapid-Turn Service Content

List of stores selling official Michigan championship gear

Same-day service journalism written and published within hours of a live event, built for high search intent.

Read the piece →

SEGMENT — LEADERSHIP

How I lead a team through constant change

A CliftonStrengths assessment put words to habits I already relied on. Here's how each shows up in the day-to-day of running a team.

Context

Tracks year-over-year data obsessively to spot patterns before they become problems.

Individualization

Replaced group training with personalized coaching once the data showed it worked better.

Developer

Measures success by the growth of the people being coached, not just the output.

Connectedness

Builds coalitions across departments, from editorial to production to marketing, around shared goals.

Positivity

Keeps a team motivated through the volatility that comes with a constantly changing platform.

Coalition-building

Digital results in a newsroom depend on people outside your direct team — producers, meteorologists, marketing and station leadership. Built the cross-department relationships needed to make streaming a newsroom-wide priority, not just a digital-team initiative.

Evidence-based coaching

Trained every new hire on digital best practices, then changed the format once results showed individualized, one-on-one sessions outperformed group presentations: a willingness to abandon what isn't working, backed by data.

Continuous leadership development

Graduate of TEGNA's Leadership in Action program (2023), the Grand Rapids Chamber's Emerging Leaders program (2022–2023) and AG Collaborative's Leadership Unlocked (2021), reflecting deliberate, ongoing investment in leadership craft alongside the day job.

Education

Bachelor's degree in telecommunications and journalism from Ball State University, with minors in history and Spanish — a natural fit for the Context and Connectedness strengths above.

Audience growth, by the numbers

Ten years of increasing scope

When the story can't wait, neither can the strategy

Still in the field

How I lead a team through constant change

Coalition-building

Evidence-based coaching

Continuous leadership development

Education

Let's talk about what your team needs when it matters most.