Nexstar Broadcasting Promotes Joseph Denk to Vice President and General Manager of Memphis/Jackson, Tennessee Television and Digital Operations
Proven Industry Executive with over 30 years of Local Broadcasting Experienceto Lead WATN-TV / WLMT-TV / WJKT-TV’s and LocalMemphis.com
MEMPHIS/JACKSON, Tennessee and IRVING, Texas (April 16, 2015) – Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: NXST) announced today that Joseph E. Denk has been promoted to Vice President and General Manager of WATN-TV (ABC) and WLMT-TV (CW) serving the Memphis, TN DMA (#50), and WJKT-TV (FOX) serving the Jackson, TN DMA (#176), and the stations’ associated digital services including LocalMemphis.com. Since 2011, Mr. Denk has served as Vice President and General Manager of the Nexstar-owned CBS affiliates WFRV-TV serving Green Bay, Wisconsin (DMA #68) and WJMN-TV serving Marquette, Michigan (DMA #180). Mr. Denk will assume his new responsibilities immediately and he will continue to report to Timothy Busch, Co-Chief Operating Officer of Nexstar Broadcasting.
Joe Denk has 33 years of combined broadcast television and sales management experience with the past 7 years at Nexstar Broadcasting. During his tenure at WFRV-TV and WJMN-TV, Mr. Denk developed and led highly effective teams and implemented sales and marketing and new media initiatives that resulted in increased market share and profitability at both stations. In addition, he successfully launched WJMN-TV’s first local news operations by efficiently managing Nexstar’s investment in Marquette’s new broadcast facility and news infrastructure. From 2008-2011 Mr. Denk served as Vice President and General Manager of WQRF-TV (FOX) and, through a management services agreement, Mission Broadcasting-owned WTVO-TV (ABC) in Rockford, Illinois, where he consistently delivered excellence in local content and service to Rockford viewers and the station’s advertising clients.
All four stations he has managed have won numerous awards for news content production including Best Sportscast, Community Involvement and Specialty Programming. Throughout his Nexstar career, Mr. Denk has successfully exceeded economic goals while improving customer retention and viewer interaction with the Company’s broadcast and digital platforms.
Prior to joining Nexstar, Mr. Denk served as General Manager of KFXA-TV and KGAN-TV in Cedar Rapids, Iowa from 1996 – 2008. He also held leadership positions at WRSP-TV in Springfield, Illinois and KDUB-TV in Dubuque Iowa.
Commenting on the appointment, Tim Busch stated, “Joe has experienced tremendous success advancing our Green Bay, Marquette, and Rockford operations into a long-term position of market leadership in local news production, community-focused content, live-event sports and entertainment programming, as well as digital and mobile service offerings. He brings to his new position years of executive leadership success along with a deep understanding of Nexstar and our critical functions including station management, the enhancement and origination of exclusive local content, digital and social media integration as well as sales and strategic planning focused on providing unique marketing opportunities to our clients across multiple media platforms. A well-respected leader, his determination, enthusiasm and creative vision are qualities that have been fundamental to his professional accomplishments. In addition, Joe has built high-achieving, deeply engaged sales teams that have established enduring partnerships with local advertisers, businesses and community organizations by providing excellent client service.
“Through his efforts and initiatives, he has established a long-term record of achieving outstanding operating and financial results within his leadership roles. Joe is a dedicated and loyal colleague and we have the highest degree of confidence in his ability to elevate the value and service of our on-air and digital platforms in our Memphis and Jackson operations by successfully executing initiatives to develop local viewership and enhance the effectiveness and value of our marketing solutions platform.”
Commenting on his new role, Joe Denk stated, “Nexstar’s long-term success reflects its core commitment to the viewers and advertisers across each of the individual markets it serves. In my new role, I will further leverage the management experience and deep community relationships built over my career to generate results and further strengthen the position of our Memphis and Jackson television and digital operations as a leading provider of the most compelling entertainment programming and local news content in the market. I look forward to taking on this new opportunity at Nexstar and working with the exceptional team of broadcasters at WATN-TV, WLMT-TV, WJKT-TV and LocalMemphis.com as we continue to enhance our local on-air and on-line offerings while building upon the foundation of our client service excellence across our multi-distribution marketing solutions platform.”
Mr. Denk earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Radio and Television Broadcasting from University of Wisconsin-Platteville. He currently serves on an adjunct Board of the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce, Board of Directors of the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville Foundation Board and is Vice-Chair of Parish Council of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church.
He previously served as the Chairman of the FOX Board of Governors and is a former member of the board of the Iowa Broadcasters Association. He has served on various boards and commissions associated with Chambers of Commerce, United Way, Salvation Army, Junior Achievement, school boards and booster clubs throughout his career.
Mr. Denk and his wife, Kathy, are the proud parents of daughters Jennifer, a Music Therapist in Des Moines, Iowa, and Jodi, a Production Associate at ESPN in Bristol, Connecticut. Mr. Denk and his wife will be immediately relocating to the Memphis, Tennessee community.
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
This news release includes forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and projections about future events. Forward-looking statements include information preceded by, followed by, or that includes the words “guidance,” “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “could,” or similar expressions. For these statements, the Company claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release, concerning, among other things, changes in net revenue, cash flow and operating expenses, involve risks and uncertainties, and are subject to change based on various important factors, including the impact of changes in national and regional economies, our ability to service and refinance our outstanding debt, successful integration of acquired television stations (including achievement of synergies and cost reductions), pricing fluctuations in local and national advertising, future regulatory actions and conditions in the television stations’ operating areas, competition from others in the broadcast television markets served by the Company, volatility in programming costs, the effects of governmental regulation of broadcasting, industry consolidation, technological developments and major world news events. Unless required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking events discussed in this news release might not occur. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. For more details on factors that could affect these expectations, please see our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Contact:
Tim Busch
Co-COO/Executive Vice President
Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc.
585/288-8195
Joseph Jaffoni, Jennifer Neuman
JCIR
212/835-8500 or nxst@jcir.com