**Exhibit 31.1**

 

**CERTIFICATION OF PRINCIPAL EXECUTIVE OFFICER**

#### **Pursuantto Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (15 U.S.C. §7241)**

 

I, W. Don Cornwell, certify that:

 

1)              I have reviewed this annual report onForm 10-K of Granite Broadcasting Corporation;

 

2)              Based on my knowledge, this annual reportdoes not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state amaterial fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of thecircumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading withrespect to the period covered by this annual report;

 

3)              Based on my knowledge, the financialstatements, and other financial information included in this annual report,fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results ofoperations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periodspresented in this annual report;

 

4)              The registrant’s other certifying officerand I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls andprocedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for theregistrant and have:

 

a)                                      designed suchdisclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls andprocedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that materialinformation relating to the registrant, including its consolidatedsubsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularlyduring the period in which this annual report is being prepared;

 

b)                                     evaluated theeffectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures andpresented in this annual report our conclusions about the effectiveness of thedisclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by thisannual report based on such evaluation; and

 

c)                                      disclosed in thisannual report any change in the registrant’s internal control over financialreporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter (theregistrant’s fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that hasmaterially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, theregistrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and

 

5)              The registrant’s other certifying officerand I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal controlover financial reporting, to the registrant’s auditors and the audit committeeof registrant’s board of directors (or persons performing the equivalentfunctions):

 

a)                                      all significantdeficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internalcontrol over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adverselyaffect the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize and reportfinancial information; and

 

b)                                     any fraud, whetheror not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significantrole in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.

 
| Date: March 31, 2006 |                    |
|----------------------|-------------------------|
|                 |                    |
|                 |                    |
|                 | /s/ W. DON CORNWELL     |   |
|                 | W. Don Cornwell         |
|                 | Chief Executive Officer |

 

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