WDIV Taps Digital Innovator Stephanie Slagle to Helm Detroit's Future

DETROIT, MI – March 18, 2026 – Graham Media Group has named digital transformation architect Stephanie Slagle as the new Vice President, Chief Revenue Officer, and General Manager of WDIV Local 4, a move that signals a decisive strategy to fuse the station's legacy of trusted journalism with a future built on digital innovation. Slagle, who already serves as the parent company's Chief Revenue Officer, now takes full operational command of one of the nation's most respected local television stations, bringing a mandate for growth in a rapidly evolving media ecosystem.

The appointment places a leader known for building new ventures from the ground up at the helm of a broadcast powerhouse in the country's 14th largest media market. It's a strategic bet that Slagle's rare combination of legacy media experience and digital entrepreneurialism is the key to navigating the industry's seismic shifts and securing WDIV's role as an essential community resource for the next generation.

A New Mandate for a Market Leader

WDIV Local 4 is no stranger to success. The NBC affiliate consistently dominates local ratings, with its news programs often holding top spots in the Detroit market. The station is a cornerstone of the community, deeply embedded in the fabric of a city currently experiencing a resurgence in population and economic growth. However, like all local broadcasters, it faces the industry-wide migration of audiences from traditional television to digital and streaming platforms.

Data shows that while television remains the most-used news source for nearly three-quarters of Detroit residents, the share of time spent with streaming services is growing exponentially, particularly among younger demographics. This is the tightrope that modern media leaders must walk, and Graham Media Group is explicitly positioning Slagle as its premier navigator.

"Stephanie has built a digital agency from the ground up inside a traditional broadcast company — and made it work," said Catherine Badalamente, President & CEO of Graham Media Group, in the announcement. "She understands legacy media's greatest strengths — trusted journalism, deep community roots, and loyal audiences — and she knows how to layer digital capability and innovation on top of that foundation in ways that create real business results. WDIV Local 4 is in extraordinary hands."

Badalamente's endorsement highlights the core of the strategy: not to replace the old with the new, but to integrate them. The goal is to leverage WDIV's established brand trust and loyal audience as a foundation for building new, sustainable revenue streams and audience engagement platforms in the digital sphere.

The Architect of Digital Ventures

Slagle's career is defined by a consistent pattern of identifying future trends and building the infrastructure to capitalize on them long before they become mainstream. Her resume reads less like a traditional broadcast executive's and more like a Silicon Valley founder's, marked by a series of successful internal startups.

While at Dispatch Broadcast Group, she foresaw the coming streaming revolution and led WBNS-TV to become the first station in the Columbus market to launch an Over-The-Top (OTT) channel, years before competitors made it a priority. In 2017, she founded and launched Pixelent Digital, a full-service digital agency embedded within the broadcast station. Described as a "bold bet," Pixelent was a startup within a legacy company that delivered data-driven advertising solutions across programmatic display, connected TV, social media, and search. It proved that a traditional broadcaster could successfully compete and innovate in the digital marketing space.

Upon joining Graham Media Group in 2019, she continued this work on a larger scale. As VP and Chief Revenue Officer, she has been the driving force behind the company's revenue strategy, building a sales organization that integrates data and technology. She also led the launch of Omne, Graham Media's multiplatform ad agency focused on connecting clients with customers through sophisticated, data-driven marketing campaigns.

This track record of "building things that didn't exist before" is precisely what Graham Media Group is banking on for WDIV. Slagle is not just a manager; she is an architect tasked with designing and building the station's next chapter.

Charting a Course in Detroit's Dynamic Market

Slagle's challenge and opportunity lie in the unique dynamics of the Detroit market. The city is on an upswing, with a growing population and an expanding economy. This provides a fertile ground for a media organization looking to grow. Furthermore, while Detroiters show a strong loyalty to local television news, over a third of residents—and more than half of those aged 18-34—also get their news from social media platforms like YouTube and Facebook.

This is where Slagle's expertise becomes critical. Her deep experience with programmatic advertising, connected TV, and social media strategy directly addresses the platforms where future audiences are gathering. Her new role will involve developing strategies that not only serve the loyal 6 p.m. news viewer but also engage the cord-cutting millennial who consumes news through clips on YouTube and updates in their social feed. It means creating new forms of content, new advertising products, and new ways of connecting with the community on the platforms they prefer.

In her own words, Slagle sees this as a mission of preservation and evolution. "I believe deeply in local media — in its purpose, its power, and its future," she stated. "WDIV Local 4 is one of the great local news brands in this country, and I am honored to help lead it forward. The opportunity in front of us is to take everything that makes this station trusted and essential — and build the digital infrastructure, the revenue innovation, and the team culture that ensures it remains that way for the next generation. I can't wait to get to work."