"She was an easy choice for this award," said Lt. Patrick Gallagher, the executive officer of Station New York.
"The agencies ask, 'Why are you better, why should I take some money and not run it on traditional television or somewhere else, and run it with you?' " said David Leider, chief executive of Gas Station TV.
Stephen M. Mindich, the chairman and chief executive of the station's owner, the Phoenix Media/Communications Group, announced the sale on Wednesday morning in a memo to employees that was filled with emotion.
Earlier this month, he unusually invited trade union officials in Belize to a meeting, according to an email from Amalia Mai, the chief executive of local station Channel 5 which is owned by Ashcroft.
On Monday Mr. Shapiro's one-year apprenticeship will end when he takes on the top job, as president and chief executive of the station's parent, the Educational Broadcasting Corporation, which also includes WLIW, Channel 21.
"We are very sorry for what has happened," said Rhys Holleran, chief executive of the station's parent company Southern Cross Austereo.
"We are excited about building a platform that makes mobile television universally available and economically viable," Jack Abernethy, the chief executive of Fox Television Stations, said at the time of the announcement.
"WTTW is very pleased with the prospect," Daniel Schmidt, president and chief executive of the Chicago station WTTW, said by e-mail.
James Day, a former president of Channel 13 in New York, an early executive of public television station KQED in San Francisco and an on-air interviewer for many years, died last Thursday in Manhattan.
City officials said Mr. Bloomberg was particularly angry over the repeated broadcasting of the test questions on NY1 News, the 24-hour local news channel, and that the mayor personally telephoned Richard D. Parsons, chairman and chief executive of Time Warner Inc., the station's parent company, to complain.
