SACRAMENTO, Calif. & IRVING, Texas—Nexstar Media Group, Inc. has announced the appointment of Cathy Gunther as vice president and general manager of its broadcasting and digital operations in Sacramento, Calif., including KTXL-TV (FOX), FOX40.com, and their related digital and social media channels.
Gunther will begin her duties immediately and report to Matthew Rosenfeld, senior vice president and regional manager for Nexstar’s broadcasting division.
“Cathy is an exceptional broadcast and sales executive and has delivered impressive results wherever she has worked for more than 20 years,” said Rosenfeld. “I am confident that her vast sales expertise, proven broadcast and digital leadership and commitment to localism will be of great benefit to our Sacramento operations, elevate FOX40’s revenue and ratings, and strengthen Nexstar’s overall footprint across the west coast.”
Gunther brings more than twenty years of broadcast management, programming, research, and sales experience to her new role. Throughout her career, she has consistently grown revenue and profitability by identifying and cultivating accretive, non-traditional revenue through a variety of innovative cross-platform marketing initiatives and sponsorship opportunities. Through her leadership, Gunther has successfully demonstrated the importance of creating unique and innovative strategies for advertising and marketing clients, as well as connecting local businesses with non-profit organizations to achieve mutual outreach and local service goals.
Gunther most recently served as vice president and general manager of KOKI-TV (FOX) and KMYT-TV (My) in Tulsa, Okla. (DMA #58), where she was responsible for the long-term strategy and day-to-day management of both television stations. During her tenure, Gunther made critical changes in leadership, direction, and on-air content, resulting in immediate ratings growth and making KOKI the most watched local news station in the Tulsa market as of July 2023. Under her leadership, Gunther expanded local news and significantly grew the revenue share of both stations. Ms. Gunther also increased viewer and advertiser engagement by expanding local sports programming with the creation of “Ford Kick Off to Win NCAA Sweepstakes,” and the development of a locally produced college football program, “Countdown to Kickoff.” Gunther joined KOKI/KMYT in 2014 as director of sales for both stations, rising to become vice president and general manager in 2017.
From 2011 to 2014, Gunther served as local sales manager and new business development manager at KTVU-TV (FOX) in San Francisco, Calif. (DMA #8). Under her leadership, the station achieved record growth in revenue share by developing new sales initiatives to meet the marketing needs of local, regional and national advertisers. Prior to her tenure with KTVU-TV, Gunther held a variety of sales leadership positions of increasing responsibility in television markets in California and Colorado.
Gunther is an active participant in media industry-related organizations, serving for many years as a member of the board of the Oklahoma Broadcasters Association and participating in the National Association of Broadcasters State Leadership Conference. She also has been very involved in the communities in which she has worked and lived, serving on the Tulsa Regional Chamber of Commerce Board of Advisors for the past five years and supporting chambers of commerce in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Salinas, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Maria and Santa Barbara while working in those communities.
Gunther attended the Graduate School of Banking at Colorado University/Boulder and majored in finance. She and her husband, Curt, have been together for over 25 years. They will be immediately relocating to the Sacramento area, which is a bit of a homecoming for Gunther—she was born in southern California and lived in Sacramento for several years.
