Joel WertmanLuken Communications, LLC has tapped a veteran recording executive and television producer to lead the Chattanooga-based provider of television programming to TV stations across the country.
Joel Wertman, a 40-year veteran of the television and music industries, is spearheading all of Luken’s TV networks as company president, including Luken’s Retro TV, Heartland, Rev’n, The Family Channel, The Action Channel and Frost Great Outdoors that are broadcast on hundreds of stations around the country.
“We singled out Joel Wertman as the ideal candidate to lead our television networks many months ago,” Henry Luken, the founder and majority owner of Luken Communications, said in a statement Thursday announcing the appointment. “His successful background in both music label management and television production make him the obvious choice to lead us down a prosperous path as we grow our company’s footprint in the digital television landscape.”
Wertman, 62, said Thursday he has known and been friends with Luken for some time and he is eager to take on the challenge of moving content on to digital platforms and adapting to the ever-changing and increasingly “narrow-casting” and broadcasting. Wertman succeeds David Leach, who left the company last year, as president of Luken Communications.
“I wouldn’t have taken this job if I didn’t think that Luken doesn’t have huge growth potential,” Wertman said. “Television is a really fragmented market now and I think you just have to focus and find your audience, develop it and build your loyalty. There’s a lot of room for growth.”