ATLANTA, Ga. – Gray Media announced today the appointment of two veteran broadcast leaders to new roles within the company’s Nebraska stations.
Shannon Booth has been named General Manager of WOWT (NBC) in Omaha, Nebraska. She will succeed Jim McKernan, who is retiring on June 2 after an esteemed 44-year career in broadcasting.
Booth currently serves as General Manager for Gray’s KOLN (CBS) and KSNB (NBC) in Lincoln, as well as KNOP (NBC) and KNPL (CBS) in North Platte. For the past eight years, she has led market-dominating television, digital, and streaming operations serving communities across Lincoln, Grand Island, Hastings, Kearney, North Platte, and surrounding areas.
Booth previously spent 18 years at KCRG in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where she held leadership roles in news, digital, marketing, and creative. Her prior experience also includes positions at WOI (Ames), KTIV (Sioux City), WHO (Des Moines), and KWWL (Waterloo). She currently serves as President of the Board for the Heartland Cancer Foundation and is a past Board Chair of the Nebraska Broadcasters Association.
Succeeding Booth will be Jacque Harms, a seasoned broadcaster who returns to her home state to lead KOLN, KSNB, KNOP, and KNPL.
Harms began her media career in 1994 at KNOP in North Platte, where she worked as an anchor, reporter, photographer, producer, and news director. Most recently, she served as General Manager at KKTV (CBS) in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and previously at WTOK (ABC) in Meridian, Mississippi. Under her leadership, WTOK earned recognition as the Mississippi Association of Broadcasters’ Small Market Station of the Year in 2024 and was named a finalist for the National Association of Broadcasters Service to America Awards in 2021.
Harms has been actively involved in industry organizations, including serving on the Board of Directors for the Mississippi Association of Broadcasters. She also helped launch the state’s inaugural MAB Student Conference and Women in Broadcasting awards program. Harms is a decorated journalist with honors from the Associated Press, the Nebraska Broadcasters Association, and the Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association.