Keith Shipman was named President & Chief Executive Officer of Horizon Broadcasting Group, LLC in 2003. He co-founded the company in 1999, and helped create a stable of 12 radio stations and a minor league baseball team in Oregon and Idaho. Two of Horizon Broadcasting Group’s stations (KQAK-FM and KWPK-FM) have been honored as Oregon Radio Station of the Year, recognized by the Oregon Association of Broadcasters for their extraordinary community involvement. In 2008 he formed Summit Broadcasting Group, LLC to acquire and construct KBNW-AM, the first new AM station to sign on in Bend, OR since 1959.
He began his commercial broadcasting career in high school as an on-air personality at KPUG-AM (Bellingham, WA) in 1978. Upon graduating from Washington State University in 1983, he embarked on a 17-year stint in Seattle broadcasting, 13 of which were spent with KCPQ (Fox) Television as its Sports and Public Affairs Director. While at KCPQ-TV he was responsible for sports programming and creating and managing several outreach programs that developed new business opportunities and provided a foundation of community involvement. During his tenure at KCPQ-TV, he earned three regional Emmy Awards and was selected Sportscaster of the Year in Washington state on three occasions. He also worked for KOMO-AM (Seattle), KIRO-AM (Seattle) and helped launch the Pacific Northwest’s first all-sports radio station, KJR-AM (Seattle) in 1991.
Shipman presently serves on the Board of Directors of the Oregon Association of Broadcasters (2014-15 Chairman) and the Professional Advisory Board for the Murrow College of Communications at his alma mater, Washington State University. He is past chair of the Board of Governors for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Oregon and past chair of the Board of Directors of the Deschutes Children’s Foundation. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of Deschutes United Way, Make-A-Wish Foundation of Oregon, the Education Foundation for Bend-LaPine Schools, Bend-Mt. Bachelor Rotary Club and the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. He was inducted into the Washington State University Edward R. Murrow College of Communication Hall of Achievement in 2009.
He is the father of three children and resides in Bend, Oregon.