• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, August 1, 2013

Kathleen Keefe, a luminary in local sales with her role at Hearst, is gaining a partner. Angela Betasso is joining the station group from Belo, joining Keefe as a vice president of sales and sharing duties for Hearst’s 29 stations.

She is expected to join next year, as Belo is set to be acquired by Gannett. Betasso will be based in Hearst’s New York base and has been a vice president of sales at Belo since 2010.

Hearst CEO David Barrett stated that Betasso “appreciates the importance of local stations to their communities, and is experienced in serving marketing partners in today’s highly competitive multiplatform media world. She and Kathleen will make a formidable team …”

Betasso has overseen sales at Belo’s 20 stations. Previously, she oversaw sales at Belo’s ABC affiliate in Dallas.

Last year, Belo took in $61.2 million in political advertising, up from $51.6 million the year before. Spot dollars excluding political rose 0.4%.

Hearst has plenty of exposure to political advertising with stations in Boston and Manchester, N.H., set to gush with dollars during the 2016 presidential primaries in New Hampshire. Stations are also in swing states Florida, Missouri and New Mexico.   

Both Keefe and Betasso have been active in TVB operations.