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Channel 40's new general manager, Chris Westerkamp, brings an intriguing background in both broadcasting and business to Springfield. He wants to take lessons from both experiences to enhance the many forms of customer service at 40 and, overall, make the station "more relevant."
Chris Westerkamp grew up watching his father, a local television news anchor, report the events of the turbulent '60s from such hot spots as Washington and Detroit.
Often, he watched not from in front of a television set, but from behind the scenes at the studio. He quickly became enthralled with the pace and variety of work in television, and knew early on that he wanted to be a part of it. His ultimate goal was to be a station general manager, and he knew that to get there he would have to understand every nuance of the business and perform just about every task - from production assistant to sales. And he did.
Westerkamp worked in sales for a number of stations, and eventually became GM of KERO in Bakersfield, Calif. His career took a sharp turn a few years later, however, when he got involved in several Internet startups, all involved in education.
Life as an entrepreneur was intriguing but challenging, as he observed firsthand the collapse of the tech sector - not to mention the heavy demands of venture capitalists.
"When you're working for an Internet startup, you have nothing ... you have to come up with a concept and make it happen," he said. "So you have to be agile and resourceful. And you have to be willing to look at your business on a regular basis to see what it is relative to what you thought it was two months before."
Today, Westerkamp, 56, is applying lessons from his many career stops at WGGB, Channel 40, where he succeeds longtime general manager Kevin Leroux. He told BusinessWest that there are many things on his to-do list, starting with work to make the station more visible in the community and its brand more recognizable. Later this month, for example, he will roll out a new logo that links the station with ABC, something that hasn't been done sufficiently in years past, in his view.
"ABC is a...