If you’ve been reading our Scenic 98 Coastal newsletter for the last two years, you’ve noticed we have featured a “behind the scenes” look into WKRG News 5's on-air talent and their community service endeavors. This relationship has been fun, enlightening, and positive in every aspect. 

Hopefully, readers have enjoyed learning about the people you see every day on television and out and about in the community, supporting and emceeing events throughout the Gulf Coast area from East Mississippi, Lower Alabama, and West Florida from Pensacola to Destin. This represents the WKRG News 5 footprint as well as ours. 

I’ll give credit to our dogs for initiating this partnership. One day while walking my dogs, I met Grady, a white Labrador Retriever, who was walking (or pulling) his friend and owner, Jesse Grear. I stopped to say hello and introduce myself. When Jesse asked me what I do, I told him we had just launched a newsletter called Scenic 98 Coastal. “We should have lunch,” he said. So we did.

Jesse told me at lunch he would like us to do something together; WKRG and Scenic 98 Coastal. I said sure, not really knowing what he had in mind. To have the dominant local news organization interested in what we were doing was a positive thing for our budding newsletter.  

Jesse told me he would like to do profiles on the on-air talent, telling their stories of how they arrived in the area, their career paths, what they do in their off time, and such. A look behind the scenes, if you will. We scheduled a series of stories starting with Rose Ann Haven, which was so much fun and also got us off to a good start. From there, we’ve interviewed the on-air personalities and attended events WRKG sponsored. 

As we wrap up this series, I thought it would be fun to learn more about Jesse, his career, and how he runs a television station. After our lunch interview, I can see why he has been so successful. He has garnered every needed aspect to understand and make decisions, to lead, build, and maintain a regional market media leader.

Born and raised in Augusta, Georgia, Jesse played on the golf team at Augusta College, now Augusta State University. After two years, he decided he wanted to turn pro. He saved his money for a year and took off on the Mini Tour, playing throughout New England. 

When it became evident the pro golfer thing wasn’t going to work out, he returned to Augusta, broke and in need of a job. He became an assistant manager at a men’s clothing store. One day, a friend stopped by and asked Jesse, “Have you ever thought about selling TV?’ “You mean televisions?” he asked. “No, air time on television,” his friend replied.

He met with the sales manager, Nick Evans, at WAGT, an NBC affiliate in Augusta, and was offered a job. Nick became a close friend and mentor and eventually, he became the President of Spartan Broadcasting in Spartanburg, South Carolina. During Nick’s tenure, one of the stations Spartan bought was WKRG in Mobile. 

Jesse started in sales and stayed until 1990 when he decided to start an advertising agency in Augusta. He ran the company for eight years, but his primary passion was always television. He sold his business in 1998 and returned to WAGT as the Director of Sales. However, business was stagnant at the time, and with digital marketing becoming a budding new industry,  he left WAGT in 2000 to work with QWEST Digital Media in Atlanta. 

“Digital was a new, different world and I wanted to get experience. QWEST was a broadband (Internet) company. They were on the cutting edge and spun off several divisions, but then got into financial trouble. Two years later, the CEO went to jail, and I was out of a job.” 

Jesse soon found himself at VCI as National Sales and Marketing Manager, overseeing the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. “VCI was the first Windows-based traffic software company for television. Software knowledge in the television industry is critical. Being the first to the party made every day exciting. Unfortunately, VCI’s CEO didn’t understand the primary needs to operate in a television environment and would eventually have to sell out to a competitor. The key to successful software at the TV station level is to provide the critical tools needed for efficient day-to-day operations and to keep it as simple as possible for the end user. Today, our stations use that competitor’s software.”

He soon got back into television with the Spanish-language network in Atlanta, Univision. Throughout these career changes, Jesse and his family’s home remained in Augusta, and he commuted to his offices in Atlanta. “Univision was new and different, and I loved it,” says Jesse. The Hispanic population in Atlanta was growing like crazy and most of them spoke little or no English, so Univision was their go-to station.

In 2005, he was approached about purchasing WNCF, an ABC-affiliate television station in Montgomery. “The joke was, the call letters stood for We Need Cash Fast. I had never seen a TV station lose money, so I knew there was nowhere to go but up. Two years later, they added the CW to their portfolio and became one of the first CW affiliates in the country. He and his business partner worked well together for six years, breathing new life into the stations. 

The CBS affiliate station in Montgomery was owned by Bahakel Communications. The CBS affiliate owned the building where Jesse’s ABC and CW affiliates operated. When mold was found in the CBS building, they had a dilemma. 

“Their options were to build a new building, which was cost prohibitive, sell, or combine the stations in our building, which is what happened. In 2011, Bahakel purchased our stations from us and put them all under one roof:  CBS, ABC, CW, and later ME TV. The Federal Communications Commission had lifted restrictions on owning multiple stations in one market by then, so it made business sense. They asked me to stay on, build out a News operation from the ground up, and manage them all.  We simulcasted the morning news and created efficiencies by combining news and operations. We still had two separate sales teams competing with each other, with just a wall separating them from each other.  This was one of my biggest challenges ever. Putting two competitors together under one roof and making both profitable, but believe it or not, after a year and a half, business was booming.” 

In 2016, Nexstar Media Group purchased all the TV stations owned by Media General, Inc. One of those stations included WKRG in Mobile. With a resume that included executive experience with  sales, marketing, software, digital, engineering, and news insight, Jesse received a call in early 2017 from a headhunter about “an exciting opportunity.” 

He flew to Dallas to meet with Perry Sook, the CEO of Nexstar. “They wanted me to manage WKRG in Mobile. I was familiar with the area and loved the Gulf Coast, so I accepted on the spot, sight unseen, and started in April.  Nexstar is America’s largest local television broadcasting company comprised of top network affiliates, with 200 owned or partnered stations in 116 U.S. markets reaching 220 million people. Plus, they own the CW Network and NewsNation, the fastest-growing cable news network in the country.

“A lot of people don’t know or understand the history of television, but I have always been drawn to it and find it fascinating,” he tells me. “It is a fun, interesting business and is always changing. With so much emphasis on digital now, you have to combine on-air advertising sales with digital sales. It can be challenging, but the combination works extremely well for businesses wanting to grow.”

Jesse tells me there are three responsibilities in the broadcast industry: To inform, to entertain, and to support the community. “No one else can do this as we do. We have to be the community leader, and our community ranges from east Mississippi to Destin, Florida. One of our priorities was to establish satellite offices in Foley, Pensacola, and Destin so we could be visible and cover all of those communities and everywhere in between. We always have someone in all of those communities to cover the News and Weather that affects them, and to be a good community partner. So we rebranded ourselves as Gulf Coast News, which represents the large geographic area we cover.

When he arrived at WKRG, he saw the need for a culture change. “Change is inevitable, but hard. Departments weren’t communicating with one another. Today we have a family-like atmosphere where every department communicates with each other, everyone contributes, and every employee is important to the mission, and they truly enjoy each other.   Our most valuable resource is our people, and we have the best in the business. They make my job easier and I cannot stress how appreciative I am to have them.”

WKRG News 5, is a CBS affiliate and their other stations include the Gulf Coast CW, (WFNA, Channel 55) and Me TV Gulf Coast (classic television) reaching almost 800,000 TV Households in the Mobile-Pensacola (Ft. Walton Beach) viewing area.

One of Jesse’s priorities is supporting the non-profit sector.  That’s why you see the on-air team at charity fundraisers, serving as emcees for events and promoting heavily on television and digital media. “No one else can do what we do,” he says. “We have an extensive reach, and it’s our responsibility to serve the community everywhere our signal covers.”

WKRG recently concluded its annual Magical Christmas Toy Drive in support of the Salvation Army. “I served on the board of the Salvation Army for almost 20 years. I like the fact that they offer people a hand-up, not a handout. They train people how to get back on their feet and get back into society. It’s a good organization.” He goes on, “We pretty much don’t say no to anybody that needs help in our broadcast area. We need to care about what’s going on, and we do.”

Jesse says he had to make some tough decisions when he arrived. “We had so many good people already here, but the culture wasn’t what it needed to be. We restructured the sales organization, and all the departments began communicating with each other. My philosophy has always been to hire slowly but fire fast. If you have a problem area, it usually won’t fix itself.  I don’t think that’s cruel,  especially when sometimes you have people who shouldn’t have been put in those positions in the first place. I’ve actually had some people in the past that thanked me for letting them go. I think they realized they were in over their heads and the stress was too much.”

We discussed the nature of the business. “Our anchors are great and most have been here a long time. Those positions don’t open often. People get comfortable with their position, lifestyle, and stability, and are happy doing what they are doing. Young people, especially on-air talent, often have to move away to move up, which is just part of the industry for an established station like us. But when they come here, they know they’re learning from the best.”

His biggest accomplishments? “Putting together a really good team and building a healthy corporate environment. The I-10 corridor connects everyone along the Gulf Coast, and we want to make good friends with everyone we work with.” As far as living in the Scenic 98 Coastal area, “We’ve been coming to the beach here for many years. Who wouldn’t be happy living in a place like this?”

Jesse has been married to his wife Debra for 41 years. He has 4 grown children and 5 grandchildren that range in age from 12 to 22. “This is actually my biggest success in life,” he says. “Without my family, none of this would be worth it”

Well said! Thanks so much, Jesse, for allowing me to meet so many on your team. I can truly say with each interview, I saw firsthand what good people they are both on and off camera. We are fortunate to have such a dynamic media group reporting the news and supporting all of our communities in a first-class fashion. Thanks so much!