Cox Names Gunther MVP/Tulsa, Lawrie MVP/Jacksonville

RADIO ONLINE | Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Cathy Gunther and Dan Lawrie

Cox Media Group (CMG) has named Cathy Gunther as Market Vice President for Tulsa, Okla. and Dan Lawrie as Market Vice President for Jacksonville, Fla., effective immediately. These appointments are part of CMG's converging markets with multiple media platforms to strengthen news, sales and operational collaboration.

"Both Dan and Cathy are successful media veterans and proven leaders on the Cox Media Group leadership team," said Executive Vice President Bill Hendrich. "We are fortunate to have great leadership within CMG to promote from within for these two new critical roles as we converge our Jacksonville and Tulsa media markets. They will work with our teams in these markets to take our award-winning brands to new heights."

In her new role, Gunther will oversee the converged Tulsa market of trusted TV and radio brands, including FOX 23 News, My41, and MeTV TV stations and KRMG News102.3 AM740, 103.3 The Eagle, Mix 96.5, K95.5, and Spirit 105.7.

"Our industry is evolving at a rapid pace. Media consumers expect us to deliver local news and entertainment effectively on their platform of choice," said Gunther. "This strategic alignment will allow our teams to produce and deliver information in a quick efficient manner, giving us a competitive advantage. We are stronger together, and I look forward to leading this effort for the benefit of our team and the Tulsa community."

Gunther previously was VP/General Manager for Tulsa's CMG's FOX23 (KOKI-TV), My41 (KMYT-TV) and MeTV (NOKI-TV) TV stations. For the past year, she has led our Cox Local Solutions efforts in Tulsa combining our TV, Radio and Cox Communications sales teams to create digital marketing solutions for Oklahoma businesses. Her broadcast career includes many years of experience in the sales and business industries, including KTVU-TV in the San Francisco Bay Area and KTVU-TV's duopoly station, KICU-TV. She also worked for the Cowles California Media group in Santa Barbara in various technology and sales positions.

In his new role, Lawrie will lead a converged Jacksonville market of trusted TV and radio brands, including Action News Jax FOX30 and CBS47 TV stations and News 104.5 WOKV, Hot 99.5, Easy 106.5, 95.1 WAPE, The Eagle 96.9 WJGL, Power 106.1 WJGLHD2 and X102.9 WXXJ radio stations.

Lawrie was previously VP/General Manager for CMG's Tulsa Radio cluster. His career highlights also include being VP and GM for CMG's San Antonio Radio. Additionally, he previously was VP and GM in Tulsa from 2003 until 2010. Lawrie joined CMG in 1999.

Converging our Jacksonville TV & Radio properties under one Market Leader makes perfect sense and will allow us to collaborate our resources to better serve the Jacksonville community," said Lawrie. "I'm excited to help lead a team of dedicated TV and Radio professionals to a new level of excellence."