Josh Gorbutt

Crisis Communications & Issues Management

• Served as primary communications lead through severe weather, public-health emergencies, breaking investigations, and institutional crises — maintaining public trust and editorial credibility under sustained real-time pressure across a sixteen-county region.
• Built standing crisis protocols covering communication decisions, stakeholder coordination, and platform escalation — applied consistently across multi-day events with zero operational failures.
• Taught crisis communications to first responders and public information officers, translating two decades of operational experience into training for professionals responsible for public communication when lives are at stake.
• Oversaw investigative and accountability reporting that produced public-policy responses, personnel actions, and independent follow-up by regional, state, and national press.

Narrative Strategy & Executive Communications

• Directed all brand narrative, editorial positioning, and strategic communications across broadcast, digital, and streaming platforms — growing unique monthly digital audience by more than 77% over five years and routinely reaching 12 million+ unique monthly users.
• Provided executive communications counsel and media coaching to organizational leadership, on-air talent, and institutional partners navigating public scrutiny, breaking news, and reputational risk.
• Led full station relaunch at CW8 Aggieland as a brand strategy and communications engagement — growing viewership by 200%, generating record local revenue, and earning CW Model Affiliate recognition.
• Designed and executed an internal communications strategy during COVID-19 that maintained staff trust, preserved editorial output, and kept a 50-person organization aligned through 18 months of continuous disruption.

Team & Operational Leadership

• Built, led, and developed a 50-person communications organization — setting editorial and professional standards, managing performance, and building a culture that consistently overperforms comparable markets on retention, recognition, and output quality.
• Managed enterprise-scale annual budget with full P&L responsibility — spanning staffing, technology, vendor relationships, and long-range operational planning.
• Redesigned operations during COVID-19, maintaining continuous live coverage and public-facing communications without missing a single newscast or major event throughout the most disruptive period in modern broadcast history.

• Directed a comprehensive brand repositioning initiative — messaging overhaul, visual identity refresh, and editorial voice realignment — coordinating cross-functional teams across on-air, digital, and external communications.
• Managed vendor and technology relationships across multi-site broadcast automation rollouts; served as corporate trainer and primary operational lead.
• Collaborated across Marketing, Sales, and Leadership to align operational and communications strategy with organizational growth objectives.

• Planned, managed, and executed community events, brand activations, and promotional experiences — overseeing venue logistics, vendor coordination, sponsor deliverables, and on-site operations from concept through post-event reconciliation.
• Developed event-based sponsorship packages and brand activation programs for station partners and advertisers, translating business goals into high-impact audience experiences that drove measurable engagement and revenue.
• Maintained brand consistency across all event touchpoints, promotional materials, and partner-facing communications.

• Owned a full station relaunch as an integrated event and brand transformation — managing audience development, partner and sponsor engagement, vendor relationships, and live programming logistics — resulting in 200%+ year-over-year viewership growth, record local revenue, and CW Model Affiliate recognition.
• Oversaw compliance, contract obligations, and operational risk across all live and promotional event executions, proactively identifying and mitigating issues before escalation.

• Produced branded long-form content and live event coverage, including an Emmy-nominated documentary co-produced with Blue Bell Creameries — managing all production logistics, external partner coordination, talent oversight, and post-event distribution.