Nexstar Broadcasting Closes on Acquisition of WDKY-TV FOX 56 in Lexington, KY, and Appoints Monte Costes as Vice President and General Manager of its Broadcast and Digital Operations
Local Market Sales and Marketing Executive with Nearly 30 Years of Broadcasting Experience Will Lead WDKY-TV FOX 56 and foxlexington.com
LEXINGTON, KY and IRVING, TX (September 18, 2020) – A subsidiary of Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: NXST), announced today that it has closed on the purchase of the assets of WDKY-TV, the FOX affiliated television station in Lexington, KY (DMA #64), from a subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. Additionally, Nexstar announced that it has appointed Monte Costes as Vice President and General Manager of the newly acquired broadcast and digital operations in Lexington, overseeing WDKY-TV FOX 56 (FOX), foxlexington.com and their related social media channels. WDKY-TV is Nexstar’s first television station licensed in the state of Kentucky. Mr. Costes will assume his new responsibilities immediately and report to Mike Vaughn, Senior Vice President and Regional Manager for Nexstar Broadcasting.
Mr. Costes brings nearly 30 years of broadcast management leadership, programming, sales, and marketing experience to his new role at Nexstar and has consistently demonstrated the ability to grow revenue and profitability throughout his career. Mr. Costes is very familiar with the Lexington market, serving since mid-2018 as the Director of Sales for WLEX-TV (NBC) in Lexington, overseeing the long-term strategy and day-to-day operations of the sales department and supervising a team of 23 individuals.
During his tenure at WLEX-TV, Mr. Costes and his team regularly exceeded the station’s revenue goals for core, political and digital advertising, and excelled in identifying new business and developing non-traditional revenue. Mr. Costes forged important long-term relationships with The Kentucky Derby and the National Football League, resulting in significant increases in revenue for WLEX-TV. Mr. Costes also spearheaded several important community partnerships on behalf of the station, teaming up with Habitat for Humanity to build homes for those in need, and working with Lexington area libraries to establish a literacy program designed to teach and encourage reading among young children.
Prior to WLEX-TV, Mr. Costes served in a variety of sales management and marketing leadership positions of increasing responsibility, including 12 years in local and national sales at WTTV-TV (CBS)/WXIN-TV (FOX) from 2006 to 2018. As Local Sales Manager for the duopoly, Mr. Costes helped drive a nearly 50 percent increase in advertising market share for the stations and developed an important community partnership with Habitat for Humanity.
“Monte is the perfect choice to lead our newly acquired broadcasting and digital operations in Lexington,” said Mr. Vaughn. “His nearly 30 years of experience as a sales leader, coupled with his lengthy track-record of leadership successes as a result of his ability to build highly-performing sales teams, identify new business opportunities, and develop non-traditional revenue streams, have all equipped him well to lead WDKY-TV, foxlexington.com and their related mobile and social media applications. In addition, Monte has a deep familiarity with the Lexington area, well-established relationships with multiple local and national adverting clients and numerous local civic partners. His experience and understanding of the importance in developing strong connections between viewers, advertisers and the community at large to deliver market-leading growth in ratings, revenue and profits, are a perfect fit to lead our newest acquisition. I am looking forward to working with Monte in his new role and I am confident he will lead our talented and dedicated teams in Lexington to continued success.”
Commenting on his new role, Mr. Costes said, “I am extremely grateful to Nexstar for giving me the opportunity to lead its newest broadcast and digital operations serving Lexington, and I am very pleased to be living and working in an area I already call home. WDKY-TV has a legacy of success and service to the community, and I look forward to working alongside the staff to continue generating impressive results for our clients and enhancing the overall experience for our viewers and digital users. Nexstar’s strong commitment to superior local content production and service, combined with its scalable diversified marketing solutions, will deliver unique competitive advantages for our clients.”
Mr. Costes studied at the School of Medicine and Nursing at the University of South Alabama and started his career in broadcasting when he got a part-time job as a camera operator at a local television station. He is deeply involved in the Lexington community, serving as ambassador/trustee for the Lexington Chamber of Commerce, and volunteering with the Downtown Lexington Partnership, Habitat for Humanity, the Salvation Army and God’s Pantry. Mr. Costes and his wife, Leah, have been married 27 years and they have four children, Taylor, Carter, Madison and Olivia.
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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 197 television stations and related digital multicast signals reaching 115 markets or nearly 39% of all U.S. television households. 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. For more information please visit www.nexstar.tv.
Media Contacts:
Mike Vaughn
SVP/Regional Manager
Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc.
501/340-4962 or mvaughn@nexstar.tv
Gary Weitman
EVP & Chief Communications Officer
312/222-3394 or gweitman@nexstar.tv
Investor Contacts:
Joe Jaffoni or Jennifer Neuman
JCIR
212/835-8500 or nxst@jcir.com