Nexstar has promoted a market veteran to lead CBS affiliate KELO-TV (Sioux Falls) as it faces increased competitive efforts from Gray TV’s stations in the market.
Nexstar announced Tuesday that Mari Ossenfort has immediately taken over as KELO-TV general manager, succeeding Jay Huizenga. Huizenga is retiring after 13 years as GM and 40 with the station.
Ossenfort is a South Dakota native and has been a GM in the market before, leading NBC affiliate KDLT from 2006 to 2013 before becoming GM of Forum Communications’ ABC affiliates in North Dakota. She returned to Sioux Falls to become KELO-TV’s general sales manager in 2017.
KELO-TV has long led in ratings and revenue in the Sioux Falls market. Its dominance was part of Gray TV’s successful plea for the only-ever waiver allowing it to combine two top-four TV licenses, KDLT and ABC affiliate KSFY.
KELO operates two full-power satellites within the Sioux Falls market and is also the CBS affiliate for the Rapid City market via KCLO-TV/15.1, which carries CBS programming an hour earlier than other Mountain time zone stations. Combined, the two markets cover all but three counties in South Dakota as well as adjacent portions of Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana.