Victor Hogstrom — The Liberian born and bred media president and chief executive officer (CEO) based in the United States is visiting Liberia. Hogstrom is President and CEO of Kansas Public Telecommunications Service, PBS-Kansas (KPTS-TV); Wichita, Kansas. The community PBS licensee serves all of Kansas through the airwaves, Live Stream, YouTube-TV, cable and satellite services. Since 2016, Hogstrom has been responsible for the successful management and operations, business development, financial success, budget growth, fundraising, marketing, programming, educational outreach, image, legislative outreach and all aspects of the company.
The media CEO has extensive experience, dating from 1973, in public and commercial media. Most notable, are terms as the President and CEO of PBS television stations in Kansas City, Missouri, Chattanooga, Tennessee and Chico-Redding, California.
He holds a Master’s in mass communications with a minor in political science; a BA in mass communications and a BA in international relations from Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah.
Hogstrom is known as the turnaround king in American public broadcasting for successfully making failing or failed PBS stations profitable. According to Current, an online publication for media professionals, when Hogstrom arrived in 2016, PBS Kansas was operating out of a former auto parts store next to a railroad track, with trains constantly disrupting studio production. The station had borrowed money to make payroll for its 20-member staff, struggled with lackluster fundraising results and wasn’t producing any local programs for its weekly lineup. But that has changed since he took over. The Current reports that Over the past six years, public support for PBS Kansas has more than doubled, to $4.6 million; membership has almost tripled, to 17,820; and nine new local programs have debuted. Six of the new shows are weekly productions.
Before arriving in Wichita, Hogstrom led three PBS stations through financial turnarounds and oversaw the construction of new buildings in Chattanooga, Redding and Rockford, Illinois.
The media guru sees great economic and social potential in the land of his birth and hopes that Liberians can come together to create a great nation from the ashes of our war and difficult existence. He is beginning the process of relocating to Liberia with the hopes of supporting his country’s development through entrepreneurial skills and demonstrating that media can be the conduit for the expansion of democracy and consolidation of economic gains through partnerships.
Mr. Hogstrom will be in Liberia through the end of October and looks forward to meeting and greeting member of the public and private sectors to discuss ways that he can substantively support the country’s development as way of giving back to a country that made him what he is today.