Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: NXST), announced today that it has promoted Mike Lee to Vice President and General Manager of its broadcast and digital operations serving the Waco, Temple, and Bryan, TX markets (DMA #82), including KWKT-TV (FOX), KYLE-TV (MyNetworkTV) and their associated digital and mobile operations, including EstrellaTV and fox44news.com. Mr. Lee will assume his new responsibilities immediately and report to Julie Pruett, Senior Vice President and Regional Manager for Nexstar Broadcasting.
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Mr. Lee brings more than 45 years of broadcast management, sales, and marketing experience to his new role. Since March 2017, he has served as Vice President and General Manager of Nexstar’s broadcasting and digital properties in Midland/Odessa, TX, (DMA #145) including KMID-TV (ABC) and yourbasin.com.
Throughout his career, Mr. Lee has consistently demonstrated the ability to grow revenue and profitability by identifying new streams of revenue, cultivating new business, developing a variety of innovative cross-platform solutions for advertisers and marketers, creating sponsorship opportunities, and deepening his ties to the communities in which he has worked.
During his tenure at KMID-TV, Mr. Lee and his team expanded service to the viewers of the greater Midland and Odessa communities in a variety of ways, including the launch of two new newscasts, “First News @11 AM” and a 30-minute newscast at 6 p.m., which have become the station’s highest rated shows in daytime and early evening. Mr. Lee helped create and deploy KMID-TV’s multi-point “SkyTracker Weather Camera Network,” with live broadcast and online cameras in Midland, Odessa, and Big Spring, TX. The station also developed the “Storm Interceptor,” a state of the art mobile weather lab equipped with live weather instrumentation that has become a highly-recognized source of severe weather information in the Permian Basin. Mr. Lee also developed important innovations for “The Final Score,” an exclusive high school football highlight show featuring a live mobile sports desk from which to anchor Friday night football coverage. Under Mr. Lee’s leadership, KMID-TV partnered with multiple community organizations and served as the primary media sponsor of the Odessa Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Permian Basin Alzheimer’s Association, and the Walk to End Alzheimer’s.
A native of Texas, today’s announcement marks a homecoming for Mr. Lee, who served as Vice President and General Manager of KXXV-TV (ABC) in Waco for 11 years until 2016. Prior to joining KXXV-TV, Mr. Lee held a series of sales positions at KFDA-TV in Amarillo, TX, rising through the ranks to become the station’s Vice President and General Manager in 1987. Mr. Lee began his broadcasting career at KFDA-TV in 1971, while still in high school, serving in various roles in production and news.
“Mike is a highly engaged leader who has deep roots in Texas and Waco,” said Julie Pruett, Senior Vice President and Regional Manager for Nexstar Broadcasting. “Throughout his career, he has delivered ratings and revenue growth and expanded operational service to viewers and advertisers alike. His depth of experience as a broadcast executive, lengthy track record of success, creation and development of local content, and deep familiarity with Central Texas make Mike the ideal candidate for promotion to lead our broadcast and digital operations in Waco, Temple, and Bryan. He has consistently built exceptional sales teams that produce creative and effective marketing solutions to drive growth for Nexstar’s local advertising and marketing partners. I am very much looking forward to working with Mike in his new role within Nexstar.”
Commenting on his appointment, Mr. Lee said, “I am grateful to Nexstar for giving me this opportunity and very excited to be returning to the Waco area, where I spent many years developing wonderful professional and personal relationships. I look forward to getting started and to working closely with the talented and dedicated staff at KWKT-TV and KYLE-TV, as well as re-engaging with the viewers of Central Texas. Nexstar’s commitment to hyper-local content both on-air and on-line, coupled with the unique and customized advertising and marketing solutions we offer and my years of experience and local market knowledge will help provide a distinct advantage for our viewers and advertisers in the Waco, Temple, and Bryan area.”
Mr. Lee is originally from Amarillo, TX, and has lived almost his entire life in Texas. He has been deeply committed to the communities in which he has lived and worked, serving most recently as a member of the board of directors for the Odessa Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and as a consultant for the Permian Basin Walk to End Alzheimer’s Disease. He is a past Chairman of the Texas Association of Broadcasters.
Mr. Lee earned his degree in Mass Communications from Eastern New Mexico University. He and his wife, Melody, have a grown daughter, Kyndel, who lives in South Carolina. He will be immediately relocating to the Waco area.
About Nexstar Media Group, Inc.
Nexstar Media Group is a leading diversified media company that leverages localism to bring new services and value to consumers and advertisers through its traditional media, digital and mobile media platforms. Nexstar owns, operates, programs, or provides sales and other services to 196 television stations and related digital multicast signals reaching 114 markets or approximately 38% of all U.S. television households (reflecting the FCC’s UHF discount). Nexstar’s portfolio includes primary affiliates of NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, MyNetworkTV and The CW. Nexstar’s community portal websites offer additional hyper-local content and verticals for consumers and advertisers, allowing audiences to choose where, when and how they access content while creating new revenue opportunities. Nexstar also owns WGN America, a growing national general entertainment cable network and a 31.3% ownership stake in TV Food Network, a top tier cable asset. For more information please visit www.nexstar.tv.
(This post taken from a Nexstar press release)
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