• April 24, 2003

Rick Feldman has been named president and CEO of the National Association of Television Program Executives, the organization said Thursday. Feldman will assume the reins of NATPE beginning April 28 and be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations and strategic planning of the Los Angeles-based organization. Reporting directly to the NATPE Board of Directors Executive Committee, he replaces Bruce Johansen, who stepped down earlier this year after 10 years. Most recently, Feldman was EVP/COO of USA Broadcasting in Los Angeles. While there, he was responsible for overseeing a group of four stations throughout the United States, including WAMI-TV in Miami. He launched independent stations in Dallas, Atlanta and Boston on behalf of USA. He supervised the company's Stationworks, its centralized, digital distribution facility in Los Angeles designed to function as master control for the entire station group. Before that, he worked for 16 years at KCOP-TV in Los Angeles, rising from general sales manager in 1983 to become president/general manager in 1993. Before KCOP, Feldman was VP/sales manager at Metromedia in New York and was a promotion manager for WJZ-TV in Baltimore. He began his career as a media buyer at Ted Bates Advertising in New York. He earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from New York University.