Hans Wilder is the founder and president of Digital Media USA, an independent digital media company he launched in 2005. What began as a single operation has grown into a network of news websites, specialty publications, streaming channels, and YouTube brands serving audiences ranging from hyperlocal communities to national readers.
Digital Media USA is the parent company behind the Watertown Post, along with a growing collection of niche websites and digital media properties. While the company occasionally partners with freelance contributors, outside specialists, and syndicated content providers, the vast majority of its editorial direction, publishing, technology, video production, photography, graphic design, search optimization, and day-to-day operations are handled by Wilder himself. It is, by design, a one-man media company built around speed, independence, and the belief that good ideas should never have to wait for committee approval.
Before founding Digital Media USA, Wilder worked as a producer with CBS News’ This Morning during the Mark McEwen era, traveling throughout the United States on national productions and gaining firsthand experience in network television journalism. Mark McEwen served in multiple roles on This Morning, including feature reporter, entertainment editor, and later co-anchor during that period.
Wilder also served as Vice President of Monsoon Films NYC, where he oversaw logistics, location scouting, location permitting, and conceptual development for music video productions. His responsibilities ranged from coordinating complex productions and securing filming locations to helping develop the visual concepts that shaped each project. The position required balancing creative vision with practical execution, ensuring productions stayed on schedule while navigating the unique challenges of filming in New York City and other locations.
In the early 2000s, Wilder conducted battlefield survey and historical documentation work for the National Park Service through his former company, Oneida Castle History Media. Working across New York and the Northeast, he helped identify, document, and digitally map the boundaries of historically significant sites using GPS and digital surveying technology. His work included projects involving the battlefields at Sackets Harbor, Fort Stanwix, the Oriskany Battlefield, Carlton Island, and the site of an Indigenous battleground in present-day Syracuse, where Destiny USA now stands. He also researched and documented portions of the historic transportation corridors that once connected Albany with Sackets Harbor during the War of 1812 era. The historical data collected during these surveys contributed to preservation efforts and continues to be referenced in National Park Service research and planning today.
His career also includes years in the entertainment industry as a stage lighting technician with District of Columbia Lighting Arts and Lightco Europe, where he worked on productions featuring some of the biggest names in music. Along the way he worked on shows involving artists including Johnny Cash, Prince, U2, Bonnie Raitt, Rush, Blue Öyster Cult, and countless other performers who filled arenas, theaters, and concert halls across North America and Europe.
Those experiences shaped the way Wilder approaches media today. He believes journalism should be direct, understandable, visually engaging, and willing to explore ideas that larger organizations often ignore. Rather than chasing every national headline, he focuses on building publications with distinct personalities and loyal audiences.
Today, Wilder oversees a diverse portfolio of digital brands covering local news, politics, history, science, technology, entertainment, travel, and public affairs. His work combines traditional reporting with modern publishing tools, video production, artificial intelligence, search optimization, and social media distribution. New websites, new channels, and new experiments are a regular part of the business, and Digital Media USA continues to evolve as new technology changes the way people consume information.
Based in Northern New York and part-time resident of West Palm Beach, Wilder remains committed to independent journalism and entrepreneurial publishing. He has spent more than two decades proving that one determined publisher—with the right tools, experience, and a willingness to work seven days a week—can build a media company capable of competing with organizations many times its size.
