Nexstar Taps Bates To Run Peoria

Nexstar Broadcasting Group today announced the appointment of Dan Bates to VP-general manager of WMBD, the CBS affiliate serving Peoria/Bloomington, Ill. (DMA 116). Through an outsourcing agreement, Nexstar also provides services to Sinclair Broadcasting Group’s WYZZ, the market’s Fox affiliate.

The appointment is effective immediately and Bates will report to Rick Rogala, Nexstar SVP-regional manager.

Since Sept. 13, 2010, Bates has been interim general manager for Nexstar’s Peoria operations. Bates has worked in local broadcast television since the mid-1970s with prominent management positions including general sales manager of KOCO Oklahoma City and president-GM of KTUL Tulsa, Okla.

He worked for Nexstar Broadcasting from 1997 to 2003 as VP-GM of KBTV Beaumont, Texas, and as VP-GM of KTAL Shreveport La. In 2003 Bates began a seven-year international term with News Corp. Europe in its Southeast European Balkan region, serving as CEO-GM of Fox Televizija Serbia overseeing the infrastructure build-out and development of its programming, production and sales/marketing functions. Prior to his work at Fox Televizija he managed television operations at B1-TV in Romania, where he oversaw a staff of 350.