Remote Control: Former Winthrop Resident Chris Wayland Takes Top Spot at NBC10 Boston

NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations, a division of NBCUniversal, has promoted Chris Wayland to President and and General Manager of NBC10Boston. WBTS, Telemundo Boston/WNEU and regional network NECN.

In his new role, and as the current President/GM of NBC Sports Boston. Wayland will be responsible for overseeing all station departments across WBTS, WNEU, NECN, and NBC Sports Boston.

“Chris is a great leader who’s worked very hard to earn the trust of our Boston staff in a very short amount of time,” said Valari Staab, president of NBCUniversal Owned Stations. “I look forward to the new milestones he and our Boston teams will accomplish together, building upon the great work that Mike St. Peter has done for our Boston businesses.”

What it all means is that Chris Wayland, son of Attorney Ron Wayland and Doreen Wayland of Winthrop, now holds one of the most powerful and prestigious positions in media in all of New England. His reach is wide and influential in the highly competitive broadcasting industry.

Wayland will reign over the news and sports departments at a brand new, state-of-the-art facility in Needham.

 â€œEverything we could ever possibly dream of in terms of technology, space, and studios, we’ve thought of everything – it’s a very, employee-first focused project to make sure that the employees have all the amenities that they needed to do their work every day.”

The current COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected news and sports operations under Wayland’s administration.

“We’ve moved a lot people from the being in the building to working at home,” said Wayland. “We’ve reduced our news staff in the building down to our smallest numbers possible to keep everyone safe as they can be. Being a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week news operation, we still need people covering stories out in the field and we still need people in the building to produce and direct the newscasts.

“It’s been a challenge where he didn’t expect, but things are going well,” said Wayland.

The blend of news and sports roles fits well for Wayland, whose formative sports years were the Larry Bird-led Celtics.

“The Celtics were the best team in Boston professional sports when I was a kid,” said Wayland, whose NBC Sports Bostoin station broadcasts Celtics games. “The Celtics were the only team winning championships. Being able to combine news and my passion for the sports and the Celtics in particular really is a a dream come true in terms of opportunity.

Chris Wayland grew up in Winthrop and played in the Winthrop Youth Hockey program. He went on excel in the Dom Savio program and continued his career at Elmira College. He played professionally for the Nashville Knights in the East Coast Hockey League.

Chris and his wife, Ruthie (Nimblett) Wayland live in Boxford. They have four daughters. His oldest daughter, Gabrielle, was the captain of the back-to-back Division 1 state champion Masconomet Regional High School gymnastics team. His daughter, Madeline is a freshman field hockey goalie at Masco. His daughter, Camille, an eighth grader, also plays field hockey, while Gigi (Giselle), a fifth grader, plays soccer, basketball, field hockey, and lacrosse.

Chris said he enjoys coming to Winthrop to visit his parents and of course, his father-in-law, Jim Nimblett, the beloved assistant coach to Ron Spinney in the WHS girls basketball program when the Vikings were an NEC power. “We try to get down to see everybody as much as we can,” said Chris.