Shawn Wilcox has been named General Manager at Zolo Media, KOHD Central Oregon’s ABC and KBNZ CBS for Central Oregon, Central Oregon Cable Advertising and Central Oregon Visitors Network. Shawn comes to Zolo Media after spending the last three years serving as President and General Manager of Montana’s flagship CBS affiliate, KTVQ in Billings.
Shawn began his broadcast career in radio in his hometown of Batavia, New York after graduating from The State University of New York College at Fredonia in 1993. After several years in radio, Shawn was recruited into cable advertising sales as a local sales manager, eventually being promoted to regional sales manager and ultimately to district sales manager, where he served in markets across the country from Massachusetts to California.
In 2003, Shawn and his wife Shannon relocated to the Caribbean for the opportunity to apply his experience on an international stage. For nearly seven years, Shawn served as VP and director of Sales for Weststar TV Ltd. and The Cayman International Television Network, overseeing all aspects of sales including broadcast, cable, internet, cinema, print and out-of-home digital media.
In 2009, Shawn and Shannon made the decision to relocate back the U.S., to raise their daughter Maeve who was born in Cayman. Wilcox has subsequently served in management roles for Nexstar Broadcasting, Barrington Broadcasting and Sinclair Broadcasting. In 2014, Shawn was named president and general manager of the NBC affiliate serving Eastern Idaho and Western Wyoming where he worked for two years before being tapped to run KTVQ, the CBS affiliate serving Eastern Montana and Northern Wyoming.
“Shawn is a 25-year veteran of the broadcast and cable media industries and will be a valuable and energetic asset to the Zolo team,” said Matt Loch, VP of Sales at TDS Telecom and retiring General Manager of TDS Broadcasting.
Shawn and his family share a great love of the outdoors and enjoy skiing, camping, fly-fishing, hiking and mountain biking.
“Central Oregon is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. I completely understand why people come here and never leave. I feel so fortunate to have been given the opportunity to join an incredibly talented team in such an idyllic part of the country” “I am genuinely impressed with how community-involved our stations are with such a relatively small staff. I look forward to jumping into the Bend community with both feet in 2019,” adds Wilcox.