Key Points
- Chris Wayland has been named President of NBC Universal Local, succeeding Valari Staab, who will retire at the end of 2026.
- Wayland currently serves as President and General Manager of WBTS Boston, WNEU Boston and NBC Sports Boston.
- Staab and Wayland will work together during the transition, which is expected to be completed before the end of the year.
NBC Universal has promoted its Boston-based television leader to oversee the entirety of its local television business upon the retirement of Valari Staab at the end of the year.
Chris Wayland currently serves as the President and General Manager of WBTS (Channel 10), Telemundo station WNEU (Channel 60) and NBC Sports Boston. He and Staab will work together during the transition, which is expected to be completed before the end of 2026.
NBC Universal Local operates 11 NBC-owned stations, 31 Telemundo-owned stations, four regional sports networks, three national multicast networks and 17 free ad-supported streaming television channels.
Wayland joined NBC Universal in 2019 as Senior Vice President and Station Manager of WBTS and WNEU. He also became Senior Vice President and General Manager of NBC Sports Boston that year before being promoted to his current position in 2020.
Before joining NBC Universal, Wayland spent nearly three years at Tribune Media, eventually serving as Senior Vice President and General Manager of WPIX (Channel 11, CW) in New York.
He previously worked for Sunbeam Television, where he oversaw WHDH (Channel 7, Independent) and WLVI (Channel 56, CW) in Boston and WSVN (Channel 7, Fox) in Miami.
Staab joined NBC Universal in 2011 as President of NBC Owned Television Stations and added oversight of the Telemundo Station Group in 2013. NBC Sports Regional Networks joined the division in 2021 and Staab was named Chairman of NBC Universal Local the following year.
Staab is retiring after more than 46 years in local television, including more than 15 years with NBC Universal.
