Jerry Gumbert

Jerry Gumbert (born November 8, 1957) is an American author, documentary filmmaker, and media industry strategist. He lives in Fort Worth, Texas.
TV Journalism career
Building on a childhood love of sports gained playing Little League in Southfield, Michigan, he began his journalism career as the weekend television sportscaster for KTRE in Lufkin, Texas at 19 years of age. Later moving to KLTV in Tyler, Texas, he won several Associated Press awards in 1984, including “Best TV Sportscaster,” “Best TV Sports Story,” and “Best TV Special Sports Program.” In 1986, he became the youngest TV news director in the country when he took the helm of KLTV at 28 years old. Some of his other honors within the field of TV news have included being News Director of the Associated Press “Best Newscast in Texas” three years in a row at KLTV from 1987-1989; and, at 32 years old, becoming the youngest top 40 market TV news director in the country KFOR in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. His innovations in the field of local news have included The Weather Lab, Doppler Net, Safe Family Community Programming, and One Class At A Time Community Programming, which was awarded Best TV Sales Concept by NAB 100+.
Documentary films
Gumbert has written, produced, and directed multiple documentary films, including "The Day A Generation Died," which focused on the 50-year anniversary of the New London School explosion, a disaster that killed nearly 300 students and teachers in New London, Texas, and "When Love Meets Science," which starred Sandy Duncan.
Audience Research & Development
In 2001, he assumed the role of President of Audience Research & Development (AR&D), a Dallas, Texas-based media branding and strategy company. Its clients include Fox, Time Warner, Viacom/CBS, ABC, Media General Inc., Scripps-Howard, Evening Post, and Clear Channel Communications.
Under his tenure, AR&D has established itself as the premier company in the field. His major achievements as president include pioneering the Innovations Laboratory, a first-of-its-kind development incubator for the TV industry (2002), and a Panoramic Branding Service (2003). In 2006, he acquired Donata Communications from Terry Heaton, who now works for him as Senior Vice President of their Media 2.0 division, the creation of which is another industry first. In 2007, he acquired The Safran Group from Steve Safran. He is also a co-author of AR&D's first major book release by its senior strategist team, Live. Local. Broken News. In his role as president, he is interviewed frequently for industry publications.
Personal life
He is married and has six children. The family are active members of St. Andrew Catholic Church in Fort Worth, Texas. An active community volunteer, Gumbert also serves on the Board of Directors at Teenaiders, Inc., and the Fort Worth Miracles Foundation.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu