Perry Sook, founder of Nexstar, to get the honors

Craig Melvin, news anchor of NBC morning show Today and anchor at MSNBC, will host the Broadcasters Foundation of America’s 2019 Golden Mike gala. Perry Sook, Nexstar Media Group chairman/president/CEO, gets the award. The event happens March 6 at the Plaza Hotel in New York.

Country duo Sugarland, featuring Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush, will perform.

Previous Golden Mike recipients include Graham Media Group president/CEO Emily Barr, former Hearst TV president/CEO David Barrett, former NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg and NAB president/CEO Gordon Smith.

Sook founded Nexstar in 1996. The Irving, Texas-based company has grown into one of the nation’s largest local broadcasters. It closed on a $4.6 billion acquisition of Media General in 2017.

The Broadcasters Foundation has distributed millions of dollars in aid to broadcasters who have lost their livelihood through a catastrophic event, debilitating disease or unforeseen tragedy.