For independent and small broadcast groups, “local” is more than a buzzword: It’s how they operate. These television and radio broadcasters serve their neighbors with news, information, and entertainment every day of the year.
In this Forecast 2024 session, we hear from leaders of thriving independent broadcast companies and learn their recipe for that “secret sauce” that enables them to be competitive, successful, and innovative in an ever-changing media environment.
Our Moderator
Justin Sasso has served as the President & CEO of the Colorado Broadcasters Association since 2011. He spent 25 years in radio, working for multiple broadcast groups along Colorado’s Front Range. Before assuming his current position, he was a CBA board member for over five years while operating his Northern Colorado radio station. Having parents who were both in radio and television, Sasso was bitten early in life by the “broadcast bug.”
Our Panelists
Vincent Benedetto is Founder, President, and CEO of Bold Gold Media Group, which owns and operates 14 full-power radio stations and 25 broadcast frequencies throughout Pennsylvania and New York. He is the current Chairman of the Board of the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters and serves on the RAB’s Sales Advisory Committee.
Vince Bodiford is CEO and Head of Media for Bridge Media Network. Based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, and Cheyenne, Wyoming, Bodiford has more than 35 years of experience in media and marketing. He has owned media outlets in Texas, Colorado, Nebraska, and now Wyoming via his company, Golden Media, Inc., and has held leadership roles with Cabela’s, Inc., Gannett Co., CommunityMedia Corp., and GateHouse Media.
Melody Spann Cooper is Chair and CEO of Midway Broadcasting Corporation, Chicago’s only Black- and female-owned broadcasting company. Its flagship station, WVON, is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. The company’s assets also include a Spanish-language station, WRLL, and an OTT digital streaming network, VONtv.
Brian Lilly is CEO of Lilly Broadcasting and SJL Broadcasting, operating television and radio affiliates in New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and the Caribbean. Lilly’s portfolio includes One Caribbean Television, a channel, launched in 2004, dedicated to Caribbean lifestyle and information programming. Brian is part of a family business: His brother Kevin is company president, and their father, George, founded the company in 1983.
About Forecast 2024
Now in its 21st year, Forecast is broadcast media’s most prestigious leadership conference. Presented by Streamline Publishing’s Radio + Television Business Report and Radio Ink, and co-chaired by Catherine Badalamente of Graham Media Group and David Santrella of Salem Media Group, Forecast provides unprecedented opportunities for learning, networking, and conversation with our industry’s top leaders.
Forecast 2024 takes place at the Harvard Club in New York City on November 15, 2023. Register today!
