Nexstar Names David Candelaria El Paso GM

Nexstar Broadcasting Group on Thursday appointed David Candelaria vice president and general manager of NBC-Estrella affiliate KTSM El Paso, Texas (DMA 91), and its associated mobile and digital operations under ElPasoProud.com. The appointment is effective immediately and Candelaria will report to Julie Pruett, SVP of Nexstar Broadcasting. Candelaria succeeds Gary Sotir.

Candelaria has more than two decades of experience managing television, radio and digital media platforms in highly competitive markets. Prior to joining Nexstar, he was with Entravision Communications for 17 years during which he was VP-GM of Entravision’s KINT-KTFN El Paso and five radio stations.

Candelaria launched Entravision’s Hispanic language flagship station in El Paso to address the needs of the local Latino community that was historically severely underserved in this market –an initiative that resulted in higher levels of Spanish language programming and news coverage as well as economic growth through local job creation.

Prior to that, Candelaria was the general sales manager, national sales manager and member of the board of directors of Paso Del Norte Broadcasting Corp. for six years before successfully negotiating the sale of the company to Entravision in 1997.

In recognition of his local community involvement and service, he was awarded the National Minority Enterprise Development Award in 2013, a distinction that is presented to the individual and media company that has achieved notable success in advancing public awareness of the positive impact of minority-owned businesses on the global economy.

Candelaria attended Texas Lutheran College in 1976-77 as a biology major and was a member of the football team. He then attended UTEP from 1978 to 1981 as a biology major and finished his studies at UT Dallas in 1982.