Nexstar has announced that it has named J. Patrick Baldwin as Vice President and General Manager of its broadcast and digital operations in Davenport, IA and Rock Island/Moline, IL.
Mr. Baldwin will assume his new responsibilities overseeing WHBF-TV (CBS), KGCW-TV (CW) and ourquadcities.com immediately and report to Ron Romines, Senior Vice President and Regional Manager for Nexstar Broadcasting.
Mr. Baldwin takes over leadership from Marshall Porter, who is retiring after serving as WHBF-TV and KGCW-TV’s Vice President and General Manager for the past 16 years.
J. Patrick Baldwin brings over three decades of executive broadcast television management, sales and marketing experience to his new role at Nexstar, serving for the past 22 years as Vice President and General Manager of KTUL-TV (ABC) in Tulsa, OK (DMA #58), where he oversaw all aspects of the station’s operations.
Throughout his career, Mr. Baldwin has demonstrated the ability to improve ratings, revenue, and profitability by expanding local news content, identifying new revenue streams, and developing a variety of innovative cross-platform solutions for advertisers and marketers while expanding and deepening community relationships.
During his tenure with KTUL-TV, Mr. Baldwin and his team grew the station’s late news broadcast into a dominant ratings success, with consistent ratings gains over multiple years. While under Mr. Baldwin’s guidance, The Oklahoma Broadcasters Association recognized KTUL-TV as the state’s “Station of the Year” on five occasions. Additionally, KTUL-TV expanded its local news broadcasts by 15 hours per week and launched “Good Day Tulsa,” a one-hour lifestyle show highlighting local business and supporting community service and events in the Tulsa area. KTUL-TV’s website became the market’s #1 local news and information site, generating record increases in unique visitors, and the station’s social media channels ranked #1 in the market for engagement, all while Mr. Baldwin led KTUL-TV. Mr. Baldwin also led the development of multiple community projects and results-oriented marketing efforts for a variety of local organizations and advertising partners, and established The Ford Award, which recognizes Tulsa’s outstanding male and female high school athletes.
Prior to joining KTUL-TV, Mr. Baldwin held a variety of sales positions of increasing responsibility at KATV-TV (ABC) in Little Rock, AR, where he rose from account executive to General Sales Manager.
“Pat’s 30-plus years of experience as a broadcast and sales executive, lengthy track record of success, and deep involvement in the communities where he has worked make him an excellent choice to lead our broadcast and digital operations at WHBF-TV, KGCW-TV, and ourquadcities.com,” said Ron Romines, Senior Vice President and Regional Manager for Nexstar Broadcasting. “His leadership has produced exceptional results in both Little Rock and Tulsa. He has the knowledge and skillsets to lead teams in the creation and development of exclusive and unique local content that connects with viewers and advertisers alike. He has grown ratings and revenue successfully throughout his career and I am greatly looking forward to working with Pat as he assumes this new role at Nexstar.”
Commenting on his appointment, Mr. Baldwin said, “WHBF-TV and KGCW-TV have a rich legacy of dedicated local news and programming content and unparalleled service to the local communities of the Quad Cities region. I am excited to work alongside the exceptional staff at WHBF-TV and KGCW-TV and I am grateful to Nexstar for the opportunity to put my 35 years of experience to work while joining this dynamic company.”
Mr. Baldwin graduated from Limestone College in South Carolina with a bachelor’s degree in Business Management. After graduating from college, Pat served in the United States Marine Corp as a Corporal from 1981 to 1985, receiving an honorable discharge. In 1982, he was named “Marine of the Year” for the eastern region of the United States.
Mr. Baldwin has consistently forged deep connections to the media industry and to the communities in which he has worked and lived. He most recently served on the boards of Catholic Charities, Big Brothers and Sisters, the Better Business Bureau, and the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce.
J. Patrick Baldwin and his wife, Cindy, have three sons and will be immediately relocating to the Davenport, IA and Rock Island/Moline, IL area.