{"id":30083,"date":"2022-07-25T12:55:02","date_gmt":"2022-07-25T18:55:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/?page_id=30083"},"modified":"2022-08-14T13:21:46","modified_gmt":"2022-08-14T19:21:46","slug":"stan-pylant","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/stan-pylant\/","title":{"rendered":"Stan Pylant"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Thirty-five years is a long time. To put it in perspective, in 1987, The Bangles were walking like an Egyptian. Eddie Murphy was a Beverly Hills cop. President Reagan was telling Gorbachev to \u201ctear down this wall.\u201d So, to know that the general manager of a television station, in an era of the revolving door, has been an employee of the same station for 35 years \u2026 the guy has got to be doing something right. And getting it right all this time is why the Alabama Broadcasters Association is naming Stan Pylant, general manager of WHNT-TV, Broadcaster of the Year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I heard him say it once, I\u2019ve heard him say it a hundred times,\u201d says Jerry Hayes, news anchor, about Pylant, \u2018What we do here is important – the community matters.\u2019 And he wants the community to know that they matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, giving back to the community is very important to Stan,\u201d says his wife, Donna. \u201cThe station has always tried to give back through work service days, and telethons and raising money for those in need.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the past few years Nexstar stations helped out at a local organization \u2013 we worked at the Boys and Girls Club. And we\u2019d be out there in the hot Alabama sun doing landscaping and digging fence post holes and Stan is right out there working with everyone else,\u201d says Hayes. \u201cThis year Stan and I were filling wheelbarrows with mulch. He doesn\u2019t mind getting his hands dirty. He\u2019s boots on the ground. That\u2019s just the kind of guy he is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year he fell off the roof and shattered his wrist and basically broke his back,\u201d Hayes continues. \u201cHe wouldn\u2019t let me go on the roof, but he did. He\u2019s going to lead the charge on anything he does.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both spoke in earnest about Pylant\u2019s actions after the April 27, 2011 outbreak of deadly tornados in north Alabama. It was an unprecedented weather event. Sixty-two tornadoes touched down in eighteen-hours; some areas were struck more than once. Whole communities were destroyed. 240 people died and many more were injured.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next day, Stan is out there using his cell phone with a Skype app and he\u2019s interviewing people and showing damage live online for more than an hour. He wanted people to be able to see and know what happened and that was the only way,\u201d says Hayes. \u201cHow many general managers would do that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just kind of went into another mode,\u201d Donna says. \u201cWe had no power in Huntsville for a week, but he was keeping the station going. He spent the night at the station on his office couch for four or five nights. The hours were just horrendous for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd he had them bring in all of these grills and he was cooking trying to keep his employees fed. It was just a really memorable time in his career.\u201d\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, that\u2019s just the kind of guy he is. He does it all for the team. He serves his employees. In this case, he literally cooked and served them \u2026 and he\u2019s a pretty good griller,\u201d smiles Hayes.<\/p>\n

\u201cStan just loves WHNT. He\u2019s kept it on an even keel \u2013 he\u2019s done a good job with that. They haven\u2019t tended to have a lot of drama or anything,\u201d chuckles Donna. \u201cHe also takes pride in bringing along the young people who are coming up behind him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, the station has thrived under Pylant\u2019s leadership. The ABA recognized WHNT as Station of the Year in 2010 and 2011. It won an Edward R. Murrow Award for the tornado coverage and has garnered multiple Emmys and ABBYs.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s very proud of these awards because they\u2019re from our peers. And he\u2019s just proud of the work we do,\u201d says Hayes.<\/p>\n

Donna says this honor is going to be one he\u2019ll cherish. \u201cOh, I think he’ll be thrilled,\u201d she says. \u201cIt’ll mean a lot to him because the ABA is really near and dear to his heart. He’s served on the board forever and he’s made so many good friends there. I know it’ll mean everything to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cHe\u2019ll be shocked,\u201d says Hayes. \u201cHe\u2019ll point his finger at those of us who knew, and he\u2019ll give us that grin. But he\u2019ll be humble as usual and tell everyone that he doesn\u2019t deserve it. He\u2019ll say the award belongs to the staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn fact, I guess I\u2019d say that\u2019s what I\u2019ve learned the most from him; it\u2019s about the team, not the individual. It\u2019s about what we do, we do as a team,\u201d says Hayes, smiling. \u201cBecause, well \u2026 that\u2019s just the kind of guy he is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stan Pylant began his career at WHNT-TV in 1985 as an Account Executive. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Athens State University and was named the 2008 Outstanding Athens State Alumni. Pylant is a graduate of the Huntsville\/Madison County Executive Leadership Class of 2004. He has served as a board member of the Alabama Commission on Higher Education since 2014.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thirty-five years is a long time. To put it in perspective, in 1987, The Bangles were walking like an Egyptian. Eddie Murphy was a Beverly Hills cop. President Reagan was telling Gorbachev to \u201ctear down this wall.\u201d So, to know that the general manager of a television station, in an era of the revolving door, … Continue reading Stan Pylant<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-30083","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30083"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30089,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30083\/revisions\/30089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}