NBCU Ups Chris Wayland To Boston GM

NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations, a division of NBCUniversal, has promoted Chris Wayland to president-general manager of WBTS (NBC), Boston / WNEU (Telemundo) and regional cable network NECN, all Boston (DMA 9), effective immediately.

In his new role, and as the current president-GM of NBC Sports Boston, Wayland will be responsible for overseeing all station departments across WBTS, WNEU, NECN and NBC Sports Boston.

Mike St. Peter leaves his role as president-GM of the Boston stations and NECN to take on a temporary corporate level position that will support the division’s news operations. Both Wayland and St. Peter will report to Valari Staab, president of NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations.

As President/GM of NBC Sports Boston, Wayland will continue to report to Ted Griggs, president, group leader and strategic production and programming, NBC Sports Regional Networks

“Chris is a great leader who’s worked very hard to earn the trust of our Boston staff in a very short amount of time. I look forward to the new milestones he and our Boston teams will accomplish together, building upon the great work that Mike has done for our Boston businesses,” said Staab.

In his new role, Wayland will oversee all day-to-day operations of WBTS, WNEU and NECN, after overseeing the stations’ sales, finance, marketing and digital departments for the past 13 months as SVP-GM. Wayland is a seasoned broadcast executive with more than two decades of experience in television.

Before joining NBCUniversal in February 2019, he worked as SVP-GM of WPIX New York from 2016 to 2019, and at Tribune Media as VP of group operations. He also worked at Sunbeam Television from 2007 to 2016, where he held numerous roles, including EVP-GM of WHDH-WLVI Boston and WSVN Miami, and general station manager and general sales manager of WHDH Boston. He began his career at WLVI Boston.

Mike St. Peter

St. Peter is a broadcast veteran with more than 30 years of experience in station management and newsroom roles. He joined NBCUniversal in 2006 as VP of news for WVIT Hartford, Conn. In 2013, he was named SVP-GM of NECN and later named president-GM of WBTS, WNEU and NECN. While in Boston, St. Peter recently spearheaded the move of hundreds of employees to NBCUniversal’s new state-of-the-art Boston Media Center, the January 2017 launch of WBTS and the August 2015 launch of WNEU.

“Mike is a solid news guy with extensive experience managing multiple stations and newsrooms during demanding times. At a time when our news teams are facing immeasurable challenges, Mike’s support for our news operations is critical. I’m pleased that he will stay on a little longer with our division to help with what is needed right now,” added Staab.