Booming Broadcaster Sees Growth As a Gray Area

Why This Matters: B&C Broadcaster of the Year Hilton H. Howell Jr. has shepherded Gray's $3.6 billion Raycom merger without losing sight of its local markets.

Hilton H. Howell Jr., executive chairman and CEO of Gray Television, is B&C's Broadcaster of the Year. In January, Howell was elevated to his new title, after the group completed its massive $3.6 billion merger with Raycom Media, adding stations in 34 markets to the group. Gray now operates in 93 markets and its station portfolio reaches 24% of U.S. households.

Call it Graycom: Howell said Gray and Raycom were kindred spirits with similar takes on local journalism. Pat LaPlatney, co-CEO and president of Gray Television, and former Raycom president/CEO, said the companies have known each other well for years, which has made the transition easier. Hilton brings vision and a ton of energy, LaPlatney said. He wants us to be the best at everything we do.

Howell grew up in the business, learning broadcasting in Texas from his father and grandfather. These days, Howell is bullish on ATSC 3.0 and what that platform means for local TV's next iteration. LaPlatney describes him as a dedicated broadcaster who simply loves the business.

Howell will receive the Broadcaster of the Year award Sept. 26 at the TVB Forward Conference in New York. He spoke with B&C about how the Raycom acquisition makes Gray stronger, why local broadcast scores high in terms of the trust factor and the group turning back the clock to do a daily station sign-off. An edited transcript follows.

B&C: How did the Raycom acquisition make Gray better?

Hilton H. Howell Jr.: It doubles the size of the company, first and foremost. And it brings in a company that has a remarkably similar journalistic quality to Gray. It is a tremendous number of really remarkable television stations with heritage commitments to their communities that's very similar to the footprint, and complementary to the footprint, that Gray Television has. That is really quite compelling.

We announced on our earnings call that we have already hit our preannounced synergy numbers and actually exceeded them, and we continue to do so.

The whole transition of making two great companies into one has gone very smoothly and quite remarkably well. I'm very excited to be able to talk about the team that we've built and what we're going to be able to do with the company going forward.

B&C: Even with two companies that share a similar mindset, is it still a challenge to get everybody on the same page?

HH: Absolutely, it's a challenge. But that's what you do each and every day. Everybody has worked very collectively and very well in getting everyone on the same page. The human species is kind of averse to change to begin with. The fear of the unknown is the biggest issue we have to overcome. With time and with our actions we've proved our words, and I think that has gone a long, long way.

The shareholders of Raycom are happy, the shareholders of Gray are happy and my management team is ecstatic.

B&C: Are you poking around for more acquisitions?

HH: We are. At the very beginning of this year we were pretty bold in what we were doing. We are actively back in the market. We are very careful about what we do in terms of our leverage and where we take the company. We're probably at the seventh-inning stretch in terms of consolidation in the TV industry. Gray Television wants to be part of that. We're now in a position, after bringing Raycom on board and what we've done in a fast and furious fashion to continue to grow through mergers and acquisitions.

B&C: How do you see the future of local broadcast?

HH: I put my money where my mouth is. We continue to buy shares in our company and continue to grow this business. I've been blessed to have been, in one way or another, in the business essentially my whole life and I see the future as exceptionally bright. It's not the business it was back in the mom-and-pop days; consolidation had to occur to be able to compete. But I really think it's an exceptionally great time.

Axios Media put out a piece that said most adults in the United States continue to rely on local television more than any other kind of television news, and that is true across all age groups and across almost all levels of education and household income. In terms of the most trusted source in the entire media universe, it always comes down to a local television station and local media.

When we talk to our people our news directors, our management, our on-air talent, our sales people we make sure that they understand that we have to maintain and build on that trust and that localism.

B&C: Any concern that younger viewers who grow up on Netflix just don't follow in their parents' footsteps and tune into news at 5 p.m., 6 p.m., 11 p.m.?

HH: Time-shifting continues to change and I think that broadcasting has to change along with it. But the power of our news continues to drive it. I sometimes think of this business as a Chicken Little business, because it's always something back in the day, it was the remote control or it was cable or it was Aereo. It's always something that's gonna take us out.

Netflix is a powerful thing. I watch it all the time, they do a great job. But if you really think about it, it's really just a digital form of the old VHS rental stores Blockbuster and all the rest. People are always going to watch movies. When you have live programming, when you have live news, when you have must-view television, which I think broadcasters continue to deliver, it's going to get eyeballs.

I see bright things ahead. The only people that can mess up this business is the broadcast industry itself. We need to make sure we don't have a circular firing squad, shooting at each other. We nee

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