Nexstar Media Inc. Appoints Michael Silecchia Vice President and General Manager of Its Broadcast and Digital Operations in Rockford, Illinois

By AIT News Desk On Aug 17, 2021

Media Executive with Nearly 20 Years of Local Broadcast Experience Will Oversee WQRF-TV, mystateline.com, and Mission Broadcasting Inc.’s WTVO-TV

Nexstar Media Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Nexstar Media Group, Inc., announced that Michael Silecchia has been appointed Vice President and General Manager of its broadcast and digital operations in Rockford, Illinois, (DMA #139), overseeing WQRF-TV (FOX), mystateline.com, and their related mobile and social media channels. Mr. Silecchia will also oversee the Company’s operational agreements with Mission Broadcasting, Inc., providing services to WTVO-TV (ABC) in Rockford. He will assume his new responsibilities immediately and report to Traci Wilkinson, Senior Vice President and Regional Manager for Nexstar Media Inc.’s broadcasting division.

“We’re extremely pleased to welcome Michael back to Nexstar’s family of local stations”

Mr. Silecchia is a veteran broadcast executive with nearly 20 years of sales leadership experience and a long track record of improving revenue growth and profitability throughout his career. He most recently served as Director of Sales for KOKH-TV (FOX) and KOCB-TV in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where he transformed the sales team and grew the advertising market share of both stations. Mr. Silecchia is very familiar with Nexstar, having previously served as the Director of Sales for the Company’s broadcast and digital operations in Fresno, California, from 2013 to 2016, overseeing sales for KSEE-TV (NBC), KGPE-TV (CBS), and yourcentralvalley.com.

Under Mr. Silecchia’s leadership, KOKH-TV’s daytime lifestyle program, “Living Oklahoma,” attracted an array of new advertisers, and the station launched two new sponsored sports-related programs, “Tailgating Oklahoma,” during the college football season, and “Friday Night Rivals,” focused on the area’s high school football teams. KOKH-TV and KOCB-TV also built important community partnerships with Oklahoma State University and Habitat for Humanity. During his tenure at KSEE-TV and KGPE-TV, Mr. Silecchia was instrumental in helping the stations consistently out-perform the market in both local and national ad sales. Before joining Nexstar in 2013, Mr. Silecchia held a variety of sales and marketing roles of increasing responsibility at television stations in Amarillo, Texas and Colorado Springs, Colorado.

“We’re extremely pleased to welcome Michael back to Nexstar’s family of local stations,” said Ms. Wilkinson. “He’s innovative, thoughtful, and dedicated, and he has demonstrated the ability to build high-performing successful sales teams that can create and develop a variety of customized advertising and marketing solutions for clients. Most important, Michael is committed to serving the local community with high-quality local news and programming. He will be a great leader for our broadcast and digital operations in Rockford and I am looking forward to working with him.”

Commenting on his new role at Nexstar, Mr. Silecchia said: “I am grateful to Nexstar for giving me the opportunity to re-join the company to lead the talented teams at WQRF-TV, mystateline.com, and Mission Broadcasting’s WTVO-TV in Rockford. These stations have a long-established legacy of service to the area and a dedication to meeting the needs of its viewers and advertisers with outstanding local programming and unique cross-platform marketing solutions. I am excited to get started and looking forward to much success ahead.”

Mr. Silecchia earned his bachelor’s degree in communications at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and extended his education as a graduate of the Broadcast Sales Academy in Dallas, Texas. He has been very involved in the communities in which he has lived and worked, serving as a member of the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, and doing extensive volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity and the Salvation Army. He and his wife, Krista, have been married 12 years and have three sons.