B+C Station Awards 2023: Honolulu’s Katie Pickman Stayed Cool During Firestorm

In the nearly four years she has been general manager of Gray Television’s powerhouse triopoly of KGMB-KHNL-KFVE Honolulu, Katie Pickman has had to figure out how to handle serious situations on the fly. She was named GM in 2020, right before the world shut down due to the pandemic. Suddenly, she had to decide how the stations would continue to produce and air the news while in quarantine. 

And then in August, Hawaii faced wildfires that ended with the devastation of the historic town of Lahaina, Maui.

“As soon as we realized the severity of it, we decided to go wall to wall,” Pickman, B+C’s General Manager of the Year for markets 51-plus, said. “We rented two apartments immediately and put two more teams out there. Gray sent three additional teams because it was such a worldwide story of interest — everyone across our Gray footprint also needed coverage. We realized this was one of the most important stories that we would be telling for a long time.”

The stations’ output was massive. From August 8-31, they aired 450 unique linear hours of dedicated coverage, said Pickman. 

Beyond the stations’ linear reach, its news brand, Hawaii News Now, has built a digital audience that far exceeds the population of Hawaii, which is around 1.44 million. “On just a monthly basis, we see 4 million unique visitors to our website,” Pickman said. 

Hawaii News Now, which has a vertical dedicated to the Maui wildfires, also boasts 1 million Facebook followers and a half-million Instagram followers. Its streaming app rocketed to 42,000 streams in August, up from an average of 17,000.

“Katie has been a fantastic leader for us,” Matt Jaquint, senior managing VP and chief revenue officer for Gray TV, said. “You really saw it during the fires where she just took charge, concentrating on how to help the region — not only covering the news but bringing perspective and empathy to the area.”