Biography

Originally from New York City, Tina always had the enthusiasm, drive and personality to be in the media. Tina’s career began as a Sales Assistant for WCBS Radio in Manhattan. Looking for a new opportunity she relocated to Newport, Rhode Island for a new and different way of life. Using the sales skills she acquired in New York, she quickly landed an account executive position with WLNE-TV, the ABC affiliate in Providence. Over a sixteen-year run, she proved her skills and rose to Senior Account Executive and then on to both local and national sales manager positions with the station. After a sixteen-year run with WLNE-TV, Tina was recruited for a local sales manager position for Univision in Boston, Massachusetts. With her Spanish heritage at heart, Tina seized this new opportunity as a way to grow her skills in a larger television market. After being at Univision, Tina was again recruited to be the general sales manager at WPRO-FM, Citadel Communications, in Providence, RI. She enjoyed the challenge of radio station sales, but missed the excitement of being involved in broadcast television.

Most recently, Tina served as the Vice President/General Manager of WLWC-TV, the CW Network affiliate in Providence. Tina saw this position as a way to use her multiple skills to help build station revenue. When WLWC-TV, CW28 was purchased by Four Points Media Group, she was promoted to Vice President/General Manager where she maintained this position for over eight years, under the ownership of OTA Broadcasting. Under her direction, CW28 developed groundbreaking ideas in the Providence market, including “Community Works”, an on-air and digital marketing campaign designed to voice concerns of various local non-profit organizations. The campaign began with a focus on messaging to the Adult 18-34 demographic. Community Works has been recognized by the CW network as an innovative initiative. Under Ms. Castano’s direction, the station was awarded its third CW APEX award and recognized for sales and marketing. In 2014 the station was named the “CW Model Affiliate”, an honor that distinguishes WLWC-CW28 as an example for other affiliates to follow. Under her leadership WLWC has also received top honors in local sales performance from Nexstar Broadcasting. Tina has overseen the re-launch of the station’s website “thecwprov.com” and also a recent re-launch of the station’s overall brand to The CW Providence. The CW Providence can be seen over the air on channel 28 or through cable providers Cox/Verizon Channel 9, Full Channel 9, Comcast 13 and through satellite providers.

Tina serves on the Board of the Rhode Island Broadcasters Association where she holds the position of Secretary. She is a member of the Board for the Rhode Island American Heart Association and is a proud member of the Advisory Board for URI’s Harrington School of Communication and Media. Besides serving on the Advisory Board for AWE, Tina served a two-year term on the Executive Committee of the Women’s Leadership Council of the United Way of Rhode Island, The Hispanic American Chamber of Commerce, and the Martin Luther King Community Center in Newport.

In 2012, she received the prestigious Rhody Role Model Award from the University of Rhode Island. Tina completed her undergraduate studies at the State University of New York at Binghamton in Political Science, Literature and Rhetoric. She attended graduate school at Penn State University in the Speech Communication Department, focusing on Telecommunication. Tina earned a Certificate of Achievement from Dale Carnegie and has been bestowed as an honorary member of the Ambassadors of Newport.

Ms. Castano currently commutes to New York from her home in Rhode Island, where she lives with her husband John. She is the proud mother of three children: Sebastian (25), Christian (22) and Victoria (18). She is a native born New Yorker and is proud to be of Spanish heritage.

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