WI Radio: Charlie Thomas Joins Heartland Ashland Stations

Charlie Thomas

Heartland Communications announced Monday that Charlie Thomas has joined their Ashland, Wisconsin cluster as market General Manager.

Thomas joins the Heartland Communication's team from Duluth /Superior, where he most recently served as an Account Executive for Townsquare Media. He begins his duties with Heartland Communications team on July 25, 2016.

Thomas succeeds Scott Jaeger, who served Heartland for 11 years.

Thomas will be responsible for sales team leadership, driving revenue, contributing to product and promotion development, as well as general management responsibilities.

Thomas comes to Heartland Communications with 30-plus years of experience in broadcast radio and marketing. He has held several management positions in the broadcast industry as a music director, program director, operations manager, sales manager and general manager.

Thomas has extensive general manager experience, having spent two years as general manager of a four-station cluster in the Stevens Point/Wausau area and eight years as general manager of a six-station cluster in Shreveport, La. for Clear Channel and later Townsquare Media.

Before that, Thomas was Market Manager of the Clear Channel cluster in Mason City, Iowa, for four years. He also spent nine years as program director/operations manager/air talent of the Clear Channel cluster in Lincoln, Neb., which at that time included KZKX, KKNB, KIBX and KTGL, and as operations manager/air talent for WUSW and WNAM in the Appleton/Oshkosh market where he and Coursolle first met and competed against each other, Jim as an owner and Charlie as a program director.

"I am thrilled to be joining Heartland Communications,” Thomas said. ‘First, I fulfill a dream of returning to the area and purchasing the family farm I grew up on and that has been part of our family for 111 years and then returning to a management position with a amazing company that shares the same philosophies of creating great local radio for the communities they serve. It's rare when you get to have your cake and eat it too."

“We are very excited to welcome Charlie to our team at Heartland Communications,” Coursolle said. “He will not only bring a focus to customer relationships and the quality to our sales team, but he will also improve our product by working with our already quality programming and on-air staff. Charlie understands great radio and he shares our commitment to the communities we serve.”