Hearst Media Production Group Expands Management Team

Erin Finnegan and Ken Baldwin have joined Hearst Media Production Group (HMPG) as creative services director and research director, respectively.  Both are new positions and are located at the company’s East Coast headquarters in Charlotte, N.C.

Erin Finnegan

Finnegan moved to HMPG from WDSU, the New Orleans NBC affiliate owned by HMPG parent Hearst Television, where she has served for nearly a decade.  In her most recent role as WDSU creative services director, she managed overall station brand strategy across all platforms, earning national and regional honors for marketing and promotion campaigns.

Before WDSU, she was a promotions writer and producer for WFLD and WPWR, the Fox duopoly in Chicago. Finnegan previously worked as a commercial production manager for a Tampa-based agency after beginning her television career as a producer at WMOR, Hearst’s independent in Tampa.

She is current board chair of NBC’s Station Marketing Counsel and co-chairs Hearst Television’s Women’s Employee Resource Group.  She holds a bachelor’s in telecommunications and film from Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti.

Ken Baldwin

Baldwin joined from E.W. Scripps Co. in San Diego, where he was senior research analyst working with Scripps’ group of 61 television stations. In addition to broadcast television research at the group and local levels, his background includes serving as senior research analyst for TeleRep in New York, providing research and marketing support for national advertisers and TV spot sales.

He holds a bachelor’s in mass communications from Iona University, where he graduated cum laude, in New Rochelle, N.Y., and a certification in business metrics for data-driven companies from Duke University in Durham, N.C.; he is completing his master’s degree in data analytics at Southern New Hampshire University in Hooksett.

“Erin and Ken will be important contributors as we expand original program development across domestic and international platforms,” said Frank Biancuzzo, HMPG president. “It’s key that we understand our diverse audience and how to best to reach them with quality content and promotion.”

HMPG’s current program portfolio comprises more than 30 series and hundreds of hours of content annually on leading broadcast networks and station groups and on connected TV and streaming platforms. It has a library of more than 4,000 hours of programming and its content can be found in 97 countries.