Thomas Baker appointed GM — FOX Affiliates at KVRR and KQDS

April 5, 2024

We are excited to announce the promotion of Thomas Baker as the General Manager of our Fargo, North Dakota, and Duluth, Minnesota, operations!

Tom previously held the position of General Manager of our Meridian, Mississippi, operations, and had joined Coastal from KVVU Fox 5, in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

Tom has also worked in broadcast television sales, sales management, and digital sales management since 2012 in markets such as Las Vegas, Denver, and Tucson.

Bill Fielder, CEO and Founder of Coastal Television Group, said “Tom Baker’s proven leadership and team building skills are a great fit to head up our stations in Fargo and Duluth.  He has a strong ability to lead his teams toward the common goals of serving communities, viewers and advertisers. We are very pleased that he is here to help further our commitment to provide the best local news, information and client centered results to the communities of Fargo and Duluth.” 

We are all looking forward to working with Tom in expanding both our sales and operations reach in the Fargo and Duluth markets.

Dave Thomason appointed GM — Meridian affiliates

April 5, 2024

We are excited to announce the addition of Dave Thomason as the General Manager of our Meridian, Mississippi, operations!

Dave joins us most previously from WKRN, the ABC affiliate in Nashville, Tennessee.  Dave has also worked in broadcast television sales, sales management, and digital sales management for over 20 years in markets such as Amarillo, TX, Springfield, MO, and Paducah, KY.

Bill Fielder, CEO and Founder of Coastal Television Group, said “Dave Thomason’s leadership record, and servant-leader results oriented approach is a strong fit to head up our market leading group of stations in Meridian. We are very pleased that he is here to help further our commitment to provide the best local news, information and client centered solutions to the entire community.” 

Dave Thomason added “I’m very thankful for the opportunity to be a part of the Coastal Television family and honored to serve the Meridian community!  Meridian is a special place and I could not be more excited being a part of the team!”

We are all looking forward to working with Dave in expanding both our sales and operations reach in the Meridian, Mississippi, market.

Coastal Television Broadcasting Group LLC adds FOX Affiliates in Fargo, North Dakota, and Duluth, Minnesota, to its portfolio of Television Stations.

April 5, 2023

Coastal Television Broadcasting Group LLC (“Coastal”) is proud to announce that it has closed on Coastal’s purchase of television stations KVRR(TV), Fargo, KJRR(TV), Jamestown, and KNRR(TV), Pembina, all in North Dakota, and KBRR(TV), Thief River Falls, and KQDS-TV, Duluth, both in Minnesota, from Red River Broadcast Co. and KQDS-TV Corp.

The Sellers, Red River Broadcast Co., LLC, and KQDS-TV Corp., are owned by Curtis Squire Inc., a Minnesota-based family holding company headed by John Exline, which has held the stations for the past several decades. These are Red River’s and KQDS-TV’s last remaining broadcast assets.

Coastal Television Broadcasting Group LLC is a Georgia-based company owned and operated by Coastal’s Founder and CEO, Bill Fielder.  Coastal owns, and/or provides advertising sales and other services to, 19 television stations with 28 Big Four Network and CW channels across Mississippi, Alaska, Tennessee, New York, Arkansas, Indiana, Nebraska, Wyoming, Norh Dakota and Minnesota.

January 1st 2024

Coastal Television Broadcasting Group LLC (“Coastal”) has promoted its Chief Revenue Officer, Don Fisher, to President and Chief Revenue Officer effective January 1, 2024.  Don has been with Coastal since November 2021 and has played a significant role in Coastal’s leadership and revenue growth for its then existing portfolio of stations in Alaska and Wyoming, as well as the stations added with the portfolio of former Waypoint stations in Meridian, MS, Jonesboro, AR, Jackson TN, Lafayette, IN, and Elmira-Corning, NY.

Founder and CEO Bill Fielder stated “I have worked with Don since May 2002 and his leadership and experience represent exactly those skills Coastal needs to help move us to our next level.  We are so proud he has agreed to immediately step into this leadership role.”

Coastal Television Group LLC adds FOX Affiliate in Meridian to its portfolio of Television Stations

December 18, 2023

Coastal Television Broadcasting Group LLC is proud to announce that it has finalized its station affiliation agreements between WGBC-TV and FOX Broadcasting Company, LLC.  This step brings the Meridian, Mississippi, FOX station under the umbrella of Coastal Television effective immediately and completes the transfer of the full complement of the former Meridian Waypoint stations to Coastal Television Group.

December 15th 2023

Corning, NY – On Friday, December 15, 2023, WYDC-TV Big Fox held the 1st Annual “Frankly Speaking” two-hour Holiday special to benefit the Salvation Army of Corning. The goal of the broadcast was to raise awareness and funds for the Salvation Army, while offering an enjoyable and high-quality program for the viewers of our area. The special was deemed a major success. Throughout the show, viewers were treated to many local artists performing holiday classics as well as numerous interviews, and holiday greetings from community members. During the live broadcast, host Frank Acomb was joined by members of the Salvation Army as well as; Assemblyman Phil Palmesano, the Mayor of Corning Bill Boland, Deputy Mayor of Corning Alison Hunt, Steuben County Sheriff Jim Allard, Manager of the “Elmira Impact” Tim Kolpien, and even a surprise visit from Santa Claus himself.

“I am extremely proud of the staff at Big Fox, who put together such a spectacular Holiday broadcast,” said General Manager Brian Hellman. “From the beginning, we wanted to put out a show that the viewers would love, but that would also benefit an amazing cause like the Salvation Army, and we were more than successful in reaching that goal. We have proven once again, that Big Fox offers something unique and special that viewers cannot find anywhere else in our area.”

“I was very confident that with what our amazing team put together, this broadcast would accomplish exactly what we hoped, which was to entertain, get the community in the holiday spirit, and most importantly give back to the Salvation Army,” said Frank Acomb, Host of “Frankly Speaking.” “You know you’ve put together something exceptional when Santa stops by to visit. Thank you to everyone involved and I look forward to the 2nd annual broadcast already.”

“Behind the scenes can sometimes be very hectic, but not today,” said Executive Producer Josh Rampulla. “Everyone in the station and on the air were treated to something very special. Everyone was smiling and having a great time because they were in the holiday spirit, and they knew what they did today would mean so much to the Salvation Army and those that they help throughout the year.”

WYDC-TV “Big Fox” is a Fox Affiliate that broadcasts in the Elmira/Corning NY Media Market. “Frankly Speaking” is a live, local television talk show broadcast on WYDC-TV “Big Fox” weekday mornings at 7. The show focuses on local, regional, statewide and national news topics Host Frank Acomb regularly has local and national guests on to discuss the issues that directly affect our community.

November 18 2023

The Coastal News Group and Coastal Television of Alaska swept the majors at the 2023 Alaska Broadcasters Association annual Goldie Awards!

The Coastal family brought home the statewide Goldie Awards for Best Newscast, Best Weathercast and Best News Series, shutting out the competition in these coveted slots.

Coastal’s Founder and CEO, Bill Fielder said “I want to personally thank Trill Gates, La’shawn Donelson, Ian Stewart, Alyssa Triplett, Emily Gerchman, Marisa Burke, Elden Hale, Chad Schneider, Erin Farrell, Dave Krisanda, Jennifer Lindgren, Jamie Holmes, Scott Beadle, Chantal Watts, and the entire Coastal News Group team.  I am so proud of each and every one of you!”

Coastal’s President, Don Fisher added “The entire Coastal Family treasures your contribution to each of our markets and celebrates these wins with you.  These wins also show that our news model for small and mid-size markets works well and is effective at reaching our viewers, providing the News that people desire, and sets us apart from our competitors.  Congratulations to all!”

We are pleased to announce that Brian Sands has joined Coastal Television Group as National Sales Manager for a group of our stations in New York, Wyoming and Alaska. Brian will work with our partners at Katz Media to drive spot and political revenue share in each of the markets.

Brian has over 20 years of experience in television and radio joining Coastal from Nexstar’s WREG-TV, where he’s been Local Sales Manager since 2013.  Prior to WREG-TV, Brian worked at Raycom’s WMC-TV for 5 years and at Tribune’s WLMT-TV for 7 years.  He has several years’ experience in radio sales and station management.

A Penn State graduate, Brian has been married to his wife, Sherri, for 26 years and they have three grown sons.  He is a huge Philadelphia Eagles fan.

We are pleased to announce that Anthony (Tony) Wright has recently joined Coastal Broadcast Television Group as Director of Digital Content. Tony brings extensive media knowledge as he has worked for over 20 years, focused on digital innovation at companies such as Lin-TV, Schurz Communications, Tribune Broadcasting, Townsquare Media, and most recently E.W. Scripps.

Tony and his team will oversee the re-launch and content generation for our station and corporate websites, design processes and implementation of social media and lead Coastal Television’s entry into AVOD and Fast Channel streaming. He will work directly with Steve Owens and the NuLogic Marketing team, as well as Marisa Burke and Chad Schneider and our Coastal News Hub team to drive engagement and ratings for our digital and broadcast news properties.

“We are thrilled to bring Tony to Coastal Television. His enthusiasm for digital innovation is immediately contagious and his knowledge of the space is tremendous. We can’t wait to work with Tony on the continued transformation of Coastal Television Broadcast Group.”

May 31, 2023

We are proud to announce the Promotion of Walker (Fudge) Van Hooser to the Director of Digital Sales for Coastal Television Broadcasting Group and Nulogic Marketing.

Fudge has been a part of the Nulogic Team from its inception in 2019. After the Coastal Television purchase of Nulogic, Fudge has been instrumental in the growth of the digital revenue, helping it increase by nearly 100% annually.

Don Fisher, Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) of Coastal Television Group, said “(Fudge) continues to make a huge impact in all our markets with his knowledge of both digital and traditional broadcast sales. We couldn’t be more proud to promote him to this position and look forward to our continued success with him as part of our team”.

Coastal Television Broadcasting Group is a family owned television broadcast company that operates network affiliates in Alaska, Arkansas, Indiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, New York, and Wyoming,

May 15, 2023

We are excited to announce the addition of Thomas Baker as the General Manager of our Meridian, Mississippi, operations!

Tom joins us from KVVU Fox 5, in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Tom has worked in broadcast television sales, sales management, and digital sales management since 2012 in markets such as Las Vegas, Denver, and Tucson.

Bill Fielder, CEO and Founder of Coastal Television Group, said “Tom Baker is a perfect fit to head up our group of stations in Meridian”, “we are very pleased that he is here to help further our commitment to provide the best local news and information to the entire community.” 

We are all looking forward to working with Tom in expanding both our sales and operations reach in the Meridian, Mississippi market.

January 30, 2023

We are very proud to announce the return to the Coastal Team and the appointment of Amy Michelle Carpenter to General Manager of KJNB-TV, our CBS, FOX, MeTV and MyNetwork affiliates in Jonesboro, Arkansas!

Amy graduated from the University of Central Arkansas in 2006 with a Bachelor of Science degree and started a career in Banking before coming to Northeast Arkansas in 2015.  She spent over five years with Coastal Television’s station KJNB-TV where she led its revenue results.  Amy’s husband Kole is a high school football coach.  Together they have two sons, Mac who is thirteen and Madx who is eleven. 

Amy shared with us that “Returning to Jonesboro is an honor, and I’m fortunate to be back in the Coastal family. As Jonesboro continues to grow, so will the imprint of KJNB, and I’m excited to continue to be a part of their success.” 

Bill Fielder, Coastal Television’s Founder and CEO stated “Amy is returning to breathe fresh air into KJNB with a renewed focus on leadership presence, as well as KJNB’s brand and presence within the market.  With Amy’s solid history of results-driven performance within the market, we are truly excited about Amy’s return.” 

Amy’s addition to the Coastal team makes another important step forward as we build out a management team with a renewed focus on driving spot and digital revenue, and our local presence, within all of our markets.

Please join me in welcoming Amy Michelle Carpenter to our team of general managers and local leaders!

Bill Fielder
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Coastal Television Broadcasting Group

October 19, 2022

Steve Scollard has been appointed VP and GM – Alaska Operations effective October 31, 2022.

Mr. Steve Scollard, a 40-year television broadcast veteran and the General Manager of our Wyoming Television Station Group since June 4, 2020, has recently been appointed to lead our Alaska Television Station Group.  

Steve has successfully led the Wyoming Television Station Group, embedding himself in the local communities and aligning himself and our stations with advertisers and causes that matter to Wyoming, while successfully growing the station group’s value.  Steve has expressed a strong desire to lead the Coastal flagship station group in Alaska and we believe strongly that he will bring the same success to Alaska that he did to Wyoming.

A professional search was started several weeks ago to identify a candidate who is strong enough to fill the leadership needs in Wyoming and that search is still ongoing.

Mr. Rodney Day will assist us in the Wyoming leadership role in the meantime.

Please stay tuned for more developments as they occur.

Warmest regards,
Bill Fielder
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Coastal Television Broadcasting Group

The Meridian Branch of Coastal Television picked up some honors at the annual Mississippi Association of Broadcasters (MAB) Awards Banquet in Jackson, MS.

Will Barksdale, who handles promotions and commercial production, and Virgil Reed, the station production manager, were excited to represent Coastal Television at the event. Will won first place for his Public Service Announcement”about keeping America beautiful. Virgil Reed took 3rd place with his Commercial Campaign for Harry Mayer Clothiers. He also took top prize in the Television Public Service Award category for the Golden Apple Awards. While Virgil handles the interviews and production end of the Golden Apple Awards, the campaign itself wouldn’t be possible without Susan Ross. She has shepherded the Golden Apples since it’s inception over 10 years ago. Virgil and Will say they love what they do and look forward to expanding on the awards at next year’s MAB Banquet.