You’d be hard-pressed to find a more stark personification of irony in the news business today than Vern Van Winkle. A gregarious, Trump-loving businessman, he also happens to be the owner of a small, independent TV news station in a desert town about an hour’s drive outside of Las Vegas. Like the poet, Van Winkle is both large and contains multitudes. He’s not confrontational in his support of the ex-President. And where everyone else is gloomy about the local news business, Van Winkle has stars in his eyes. An optimist, in what’s often one of the most cynical games around.
The Station Owner as CEO: Running LPTV Like a Business
April 28, 2026
By Lee Allen Miller, Executive Director When I talk with LPTV owners across the country, I hear the same story more often than I’d like.
