Larry Wert

Larry Wert is the President and General Manager of NBC 5/WMAQ-TV, the NBC-owned station in Chicago, the nation’s third largest media market.  Wert is also the President of the Central and Western Region of NBC Owned Television Stations, where he is charged with overseeing four additional NBC-owned stations, including KNBC-TV in Los Angeles, KNTV-TV in San Francisco, KNSD-TV in San Diego and KXAS-TV in Dallas-Fort Worth.

 

 

 

A native Chicagoan, Wert has been in local television and radio broadcasting for more than 30 years, including more than a decade at NBC 5.  Before joining NBC in 1998, he worked as Senior Vice President of Chancellor Broadcasting, where he managed 13 radio properties in Chicago and Detroit and previously as President of Evergreen Media Corporation, which merged with Chancellor in 1996.  Wert also was President and General Manager of Evergreen’s “The Loop” and AM 1000.  He began his career in television in sales with ABC-TV in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago after getting his start in the industry at Leo Burnett Advertising in Chicago.  

 

 

 

Wert is extremely involved in the Chicago community, serving on the Board of Directors for the Children’s Brittle Bone Foundation, Catholic Charities, Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Chicago Central Area Committee and the 100 Club.  He is a member of the Governing Board of Gilda’s Club of Chicago and a member of the Advisory Council for the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation Greater Chicago Division.  Wert is also an Honorary Board and Nominating Committee Member of RAINBOWS, an organization that helps children cope with loss, and sits on the Illinois Broadcasters Association Board of Directors and the Board of Trustees for Fenwick High School in Oak Park, Illinois  

 

 

 

Throughout his career, Wert has received numerous honors for his civic involvement, including

 

2011 Make-A-Wish Foundation of Illinois "Leaders in Joy" Award, the Leonardo Da Vinci Award of Excellence from the Order Sons of Italy, the Visionary Leadership Award from the Chicago Chapter of the Anti-Defamation League, the Person of the Year Award from the Broadcast Advertising Club of Chicago, the Dante Award from the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans and the Man of the Year Award from Casa Italia.  

 

 

 

Additionally, under Wert’s tenure, the Illinois Broadcasters Association recognized NBC5 with the 2011 Station of the Year Award.

 

 

 

Wert holds a BA in Journalism from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.  He and his wife Julie have four children and reside in his hometown of Riverside, Illinois.