Nexstar Broadcasting Names Christopher Pruitt Vice President and General Manager of Central Texas Television and Digital Operations
WACO, TEMPLE, BRYAN and IRVING, Texas (July 27, 2015) – Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: NXST) announced today that Chris Pruitt has been appointed Vice President and General Manager of KWKT-TV (FOX), KYLE-TV (MyNetworkTV) and associated digital services, including Estrella TV and community web portal MyCenTX.com serving the Waco, Temple and Bryan, TX market DMA (#87). Mr. Pruitt will assume his new responsibilities immediately and report to Julie Pruett, Senior Vice President of Nexstar Broadcasting.
Chris Pruitt’s career in broadcast television and sales management spans nearly two decades, including fourteen years with Nexstar Broadcasting, and he brings a comprehensive background in local news production, programming, digital services, new business development, inventory control and regional sales to his new role.
Before his return to Nexstar, he served as VP and General Manager of KMVT-TV (CBS/CW) and KSVT-TV (FOX) in Twin Falls, ID for five years where he successfully directed the stations’ realignment and staff recruitment and training. In addition to launching new local news programming and community-focused content, during his tenure Mr. Pruitt developed and led highly effective teams that executed sales and new media initiatives, resulting in significant market share and profitability increases at the stations. Under his leadership, the stations’ broadcast revenue doubled and KMVT achieved several distinctions including the ninth highest-ranked CBS Late News and fifth highest-ranked news in the U.S. based on share in 2014 as well as Best Place to Work in Idaho in 2015.
Prior to Twin Falls, he served as VP / General Manager and General Sales Manager of Nexstar’s KBTV-TV (FOX) in Beaumont, TX where he led the complete rebranding, marketing, and turnaround of the station following its switch from an NBC to FOX affiliation. In addition to setting station records for new and direct business development, Mr. Pruitt led initiatives to manage the recovery of the station from devastating hurricanes and was recognized by former FCC commissioner Robert McDowell for exemplary execution of KBTV’s digital television (DTV) build-out.
From 2002 to 2008 Mr. Pruitt was at Nexstar’s KMID-TV (ABC) in Midland, TX where he served as General Sales Manager (’02-’04) and as VP / General Manager (’04-’08). By effectively leveraging new local direct business partners while increasing customer retention to generate local and national revenue share gains he successfully grew KMID-TV’s station cash flows nearly nine-fold in just over four years as General Manager. Earlier in his Nexstar career he served as Local Sales Manager at KJTL-TV (FOX) and KJBO-TV (MyNetworkTV) and Account Executive at KFDX-TV (NBC) in his hometown of Wichita Falls, TX.
Commenting on the appointment, Julie Pruett stated, “We are excited for Chris’ return to Nexstar as he has a deep understanding of our business operations as well as a proven record of improving customer retention and viewer interaction with the Company’s broadcast and digital platforms and exceeding economic goals. A well-respected leader, he brings a results-oriented approach to the business of broadcasting and has catalyzed tremendous success by building high-achieving, deeply engaged sales teams from the ground up that have established enduring partnerships with local advertisers, businesses and community organizations.
“In addition, Chris has consistently demonstrated his deep local community commitment by elevating the level of service at the stations he has managed through the creation and expansion of leading local news programming and community-focused content, as well as digital and mobile service offerings. Localism is our top priority at Nexstar and with Chris’ extensive midsize and small market broadcast experience, sales management expertise and dedication to the local communities he serves, we are confident in his ability to provide effective leadership to build upon the achievements of our Waco – Temple – Bryan operations. We look forward to his contributions as we continue to enhance the effectiveness and value of our broadcast, digital and mobile services to local market viewers and advertisers.”
Commenting on his new role, Chris Pruitt stated, “Nexstar’s long-term success reflects its core commitment to the viewers and advertisers across each of the individual markets it serves and I am thrilled to rejoin the Nexstar family and return to Texas where I was born and raised. In this new role, I will utilize the management experience and deep community relationships built over my career to further strengthen our Waco – Temple – Bryan television and digital operations as leading providers of the most compelling local news content and entertainment programming in the market. I look forward to taking on this new opportunity and working with the exceptional team of broadcasters at KWKT-TV, KYLE-TV and MyCenTX.com as we continue build upon the foundation of our client service excellence across our multi-distribution marketing solutions platform.”
Mr. Pruitt earned his Bachelors of Business Administration degree in Finance from Midwestern State University, located in his hometown of Wichita Falls, Texas.
Mr. Pruitt was awarded the 2015 St. Luke’s Hospital Philanthropist of the Year in recognition of his local community involvement and service as a member of the hospital’s foundation board. He currently serves as Co-Chairman of the Southern Idaho Economic Development Organization and as Treasurer of Business Plus, Inc., an economic development group focused on job creation in Southern Idaho. He also serves as an Executive Board Member of the Idaho State Broadcasters Association and a Board Member of the Twins Falls Education Foundation.
He previously served as the Chairman of the Wichita Falls Clean Community Commission, Executive Board Member of the West Texas Energy Technology Initiative, and Board Member of the Wichita Falls Board of Commerce and Industry. He has also served as a Board Member of the United Way, American Cancer Society, and Odessa Chamber Ambassadors.
Chris Pruitt and his wife Joy have three children.
About Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc.
Nexstar Broadcasting 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 107 television stations and related digital multicast signals reaching 58 markets or approximately 18.0% of all U.S. television households. Nexstar’s portfolio includes affiliates of NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, MyNetworkTV, The CW, Telemundo, Bounce TV, Me-TV, and LATV. 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.
Forward-Looking Statements
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Contact:
Julie Pruett
SVP/Regional Manager
Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc.
972/373-8800
Joseph Jaffoni, Jennifer Neuman
JCIR
212/835-8500 or nxst@jcir.com