IRVING, Texas—Nexstar Media Group, Inc. has promoted Lloyd Bucher to vice president and general manager of its broadcast and digital operations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (DMA #4), overseeing the long-range planning and day-to-day management of WPHL-TV (CW), phl17.com, and their related mobile and social media channels.
Bucher succeeds Vince Giannini, who retired earlier this month. He will assume his new duties immediately and report to Brandin Stewart, senior vice president and regional manager for Nexstar’s broadcasting division.
The promotion is a homecoming for Bucher, who was born and raised in Philadelphia, and spent the first 35 years of his life in the area, Nexstar reported. He brings nearly 30 years of leadership experience in broadcast management, marketing and sales to his new position at Nexstar, where he has served as the vice president and general manager of the company’s broadcast and digital operations in Charlotte, North Carolina (DMA #21) for almost three years.
In Charlotte, Bucher was responsible for overseeing WJZY TV (FOX), WMYT-TV (MyNet) and qcnews.com. During his tenure in Charlotte, Mr. Bucher and his team reimagined the television stations’ brand and marketing efforts, launching “Queen City News,” offering more local news than any other station in the market. Mr. Bucher also spearheaded the creation and development of the morning lifestyle show, “Positively Charlotte,” debuting this summer and featuring local personalities, newsmakers and small businesses. He was also instrumental in forging a partnership with Charlotte FC, the city’s professional soccer team, and the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, enabling WJZY-TV to become the official “Home of the Panthers.” On the digital front, Mr. Bucher re-launched the stations’ website as qcnews.com, “Carolina’s Own Queen City News,” and helped drive significant growth in unique visitors, page views, digital advertising revenue.
“Nexstar is extremely fortunate to be able to bring someone with Lloyd’s experience back to his hometown to manage the company’s broadcast and digital operations,” said Stewart. “Lloyd has been successful everywhere he’s worked and consistently driven growth in ratings, revenue and profit by seizing opportunities to forge new relationships with advertisers and marketers, creating and developing new programming, and deepening his connection to the local community. He will be a great leader for our Philly media businesses.”
Prior to his time in Charlotte, Bucher served as vice president and general manager of WPTV-TV in West Palm Beach, Florida, from 2015 to 2021. While there, Bucher expanded local news programming and helped create and develop several significant digital initiatives, including the launch of WPTV-TV’s first mobile app for news, a streaming newscast, and a variety of streaming news specials. Prior to joining WPTV-TV, Bucher held a variety of sales and marketing positions of increasing responsibility at television stations in Miami and Philadelphia from 1995 to 2005. He began his professional career as an attorney, following his graduation from law school in 1993.
“I am grateful to Nexstar for bringing me back to Philadelphia, my hometown,” said Mr. Bucher. “I’m truly happy to be returning to a market I know well and looking forward to working with the broadcast and digital teams at WPHL-TV. This station has a long history of quality programming, special coverage of important local events, and service to the community, and when you combine all that with the resources of Nexstar, you can create a lot of opportunity for success.”
Bucher has a long history of service with community- and media industry-related organizations. He was a member of the Board of Directors for the Urban League of Palm Beach County and Florida Atlantic University’s Center for Autism and Related Disabilities. He also served as a member of the TVB Executive Board of Directors and the NBC Affiliate Board. Mr. Bucher graduated from Hofstra University with a bachelor’s degree in marketing and earned his law degree from the Widener University School of Law in Wilmington, Delaware.
