With 53 stations covering more than 13% of U.S. households, Raycom Media Group will be honored by TVNewsCheck as the 2015 Station Group of the Year. "Under the bold direction of CEO Paul McTear for the past 13 years, the group has grown considerably and emerged as an industry leader,” says TVN Editor Harry A. Jessell.
Raycom Tapped As TVN’s Top Station Group
TVNewsCheck today named Raycom Media Group as its Station Group of the Year for 2015, citing its innovative approach to technology, digital media and programming.
“Under the bold direction of CEO Paul McTear for the past 13 years, the group has grown considerably and emerged as an industry leader,” said TVNewsCheck Editor Harry A. Jessell. “The honor is well deserved.”
“Raycom is at the forefront of broadcasters that are developing their own daytime and evening programming,” Jessell said. “And it was among the first groups to plunge deeply into online media with its investment in WorldNow in 2000.
“Raycom continues to excel in local news because it recognizes that its future lies in local services and because it has embraced transformative news technologies like Bitcentral and Live Link,” Jessell added.
McTear joined Raycom in 1997 as chief financial officer and took over as president and CEO upon the retirement of John Hayes in 2001. On McTear’s watch, Raycom acquired the stations of Liberty Corp. in 2006 and those of Lincoln Financial in 2008.
With 53 stations covering more than 13% of U.S. households, the group now ranks No. 11 (by spot revenue) on the BIA/Kelsey-TVNewsCheck Top 30.
BRAND CONNECTIONS
Backed by the Alabama Retirement Systems and based in Montgomery, Raycom Media also owns Raycom Sports (a marketing, production and events management and distribution company); Tupelo-Honey Productions (a New York-based production company); Limerick Studios (a Charlotte, N.C.-based motion graphics design house); RTM Productions (a Franklin, Tenn.-based automotive programming production and marketing solutions company); and Broadview Media (a post-production/digital signage company based in Montgomery).
Last year, the Station Group of the Year honor went to the Sinclair Broadcast Group in recognition of its extraordinary growth and its leadership in developing retransmission consent revenue and a next-generation broadcasting system.
Raycom will be the subject of a feature article in TVNewsCheck’s Executive Outlook magazine, which will be distributed at NATPE and sent to every station group executive, general manager, news director and chief engineer in the country. The article will subsequently be posted on TVNewsCheck.com.
Comments (7)
kendra campbell says:
October 29, 2014 at 9:10 am
This is a joke – right? Right?
Kate Waxley says:
October 29, 2014 at 9:22 am
It must be a joke….
Larry Eskridge says:
October 29, 2014 at 9:32 am
Who paid you to select Raycom?
alicia farmer says:
October 29, 2014 at 9:38 am
Say what?
Top 3 worst:
#3 – Raycom
#2 – Sinclair
#1 – Nexstar
Brad Dann says:
October 29, 2014 at 10:57 am
This is just a way for them to sell ads in the print edition they put out. Harry’s got to make a living after all.
Brandon shaw says:
October 29, 2014 at 11:30 am
Paul McTear has led Raycom to become a solid broadcaster and a good business investment. It was Raycom’s turn to be recognized for the solid work since 1996. Congrats.
Christina Fleming says:
October 30, 2014 at 11:06 am
This must be a joke. They are terrible and it is obvious that Terry Mackin is kissing up.