Graham Media Group

Graham Media Group (formerly Post-Newsweek Stations) is the television broadcasting subsidiary of the Graham Holdings Company. It is now headquartered in Chicago, after being co-located for several years with its local NBC affiliate WDIV-TV in Detroit.[1]

"WTOP, Inc." redirects here. For the AM radio station formerly known as WTOP, see WFED. For the television station formerly known as WTOP-TV, see WUSA (TV).
Graham Media Group
Formerly
WTOP Inc. (1949–1954)
Post Stations (1954–1961)
Post-Newsweek Stations (1961–2014)
Subsidiary
IndustryBroadcast television
Founded1949
Headquarters
Chicago, Illinois
,
USA
Area served
United States
Canada
Key people
Emily L. Barr, president
ParentGraham Holdings Company
Websitewww.grahammedia.com

History
Previous logo as Post-Newsweek Stations

The origins of Graham Media can be traced to 1944, when the Washington Post began its broadcasting activities with its purchase of WINX radio in Washington, D.C.. Four years later the newspaper's parent firm, the Washington Post Company, announced its intention to acquire controlling interest in a rival station, WTOP radio from CBS. The two firms formed a joint venture known as WTOP Incorporated, with the Post holding 55 percent and CBS maintaining the balance (45 percent). The Post sold wholly owned WINX but retained its FM adjunct WINX-FM, which became the original WTOP-FM when the sales became final in 1949. In 1950 WTOP Inc. purchased WOIC, Washington's CBS television affiliate, and changed that station's call letters to WTOP-TV. This Post-CBS joint venture is the direct predecessor of Graham Media Group.

CBS was forced by the Federal Communications Commission to sell its remaining interest in WTOP Inc. in 1954. The Post then merged its Washington stations with recently purchased WMBR-AM-TV in Jacksonville, Florida and changed the company's name to Post Stations, Inc. WMBR radio was later sold off (it is now WQOP); the Post then changed WMBR-TV's calls to WJXT. The company was rechristened as Post-Newsweek Stations, Inc. after the Post acquired Newsweek magazine in 1961.

Post-Newsweek made its first purchase in 1969, with the acquisitions of WCKY radio in Cincinnati and WLBW-TV in Miami; the TV outlet was renamed WPLG after the former Washington Post publisher Philip Graham, who committed suicide in 1963. WTOP-FM in Washington was donated to Howard University in 1971 and became WHUR-FM soon after. In 1974, the company added WTIC-TV in Hartford, Connecticut, changing its calls to WFSB upon taking over.

In the wake of a panic swap of WTOP-TV (now WUSA) to the (Detroit) Evening News Association for its WWJ-TV (now WDIV) in 1978, followed by the sale of both radio stations later in the year, the Post decided to spin off their broadcasting interests into a company of its own. The Post-Newsweek name itself would later spread to the Post-owned cable operations (now known as Cable One and a company identical in structure to Post-Newsweek Stations). During the 1970s and 1980s, the stations tended to have vaguely similar on-air looks, along with the common slogan "The One & Only Channel/TV (number)"; some of the stations continue to use this or a variant as a slogan.

In 1992, Post-Newsweek bought the now-defunct Detroit regional sports station PASS Sports from former Detroit Tigers owner and Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan. On April 22, 1994, the Texas stations of H&C Communications, KPRC-TV in Houston and KSAT-TV in San Antonio were acquired. The company has not expanded elsewhere in Texas, and notably, it has only operated in a maximum of six TV markets since the acquisition.

Post-Newsweek nearly expanded to seven stations in 2008, when it offered to purchase NBC-owned WTVJ, creating a duopoly with WPLG. The sale was cancelled however, due to lack of FCC approval and poor economic conditions at that time, along with local reaction against media consolidation.[2]

2013–present: The post-Post-Newsweek era

The Post-Newsweek Stations group was not involved in the sales of Newsweek to Sidney Harman in August 2010,[3] and of the Washington Post to Jeff Bezos in October 2013,[4] after which the Washington Post Company was renamed Graham Holdings Company.[5] Graham's station group continued to operate under the Post-Newsweek name until July 28, 2014, when it was announced that it would be renamed Graham Media Group.[6]

In March 2014, Graham announced that it would sell WPLG to Berkshire Hathaway, in exchange for a large majority of Berkshire Hathaway's shares in Graham Holdings. Berkshire Hathaway and its chairman, Warren Buffett, had been longtime stockholders in the company.[7] The acquisition closed on June 30, 2014; Berkshire Hathaway entered into agreements with Graham to continue providing WPLG with the station group's centralized services following the sale.[8][9][10][11]

On May 27, 2016, Graham announced that as part of the acquisition of Media General by Nexstar Broadcasting, it would acquire Nexstar's The CW affiliate WCWJ in Jacksonville (forming Graham's first-ever duopoly, with WJXT) and Media General's NBC affiliate WSLS-TV in Roanoke, Virginia from Media General, as part of divestitures tied to the sale.[12]

Stations

Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state and city of license.

Current

Note:

  • (##) indicates a station owned by H&C Communications prior to its acquisition by Post-Newsweek in 1994.
City of license / market Station Channel
TV (RF)		 Owned since Primary affiliation
Jacksonville WJXT 4 (42) 1953 Independent
WCWJ 17 (34) 2017 The CW
Orlando - Daytona Beach - Melbourne WKMG-TV 6 (26) 1997 CBS
Detroit WDIV 4 (45) 1978 NBC
Houston KPRC-TV ## 2 (35) 1994 NBC
San Antonio KSAT-TV ## 12 (12) 1994 ABC
Roanoke - Lynchburg, VA WSLS-TV 10 (30) 2017 NBC

Former

Television
City of License / Market Station Channel
TV (RF)		 Years owned Current ownership status
Hartford - New Haven WFSB 3 (33) 1974–1997 CBS affiliate owned by Meredith Corporation
Washington, D.C. WTOP-TV 1 9 (9) 1950–1978 CBS affiliate WUSA, owned by Tegna
Miami - Fort Lauderdale WPLG 2 10 (10) 1969–2014 ABC affiliate owned by BH Media

Notes:

  • 1 Co-owned with CBS until 1954 in a joint venture (55% owned by the Post, 45% owned by CBS)

Radio
AM Stations FM Stations
City of license/market Station/
Frequency		 Years owned Current status
Washington, D.C. WTOP 1500 2 1949–1978 WFED, owned by Hubbard Broadcasting
WTOP-FM 96.3 2 1949–1971 WHUR-FM, donated to and owned by Howard University
Jacksonville WMBR 1460 1953–1958 WQOP, owned by Queen of Peace Radio
Cincinnati WCKY 1530 1969–1976 Owned by iHeartMedia

Callsign meanings

The call letters of several Graham stations are symbolic of persons who have had associations with The Washington Post and Graham Holdings:

  • WPLG: Phillip L. Graham, former publisher of the Post who died in 1963
  • WKMG: Katharine Meyer Graham, widow of Phillip Graham who took his place as head of The Washington Post Company
  • WFSB: Frederick Scott Beebe, former president of Post-Newsweek Stations, later chairman of the Post Company from Philip Graham's death until his own in 1973
gollark: What is a good emulator™?
gollark: Does anyone know how to get Android™ apps to run on Linux™?
gollark: The Cell Labs thing.
gollark: hmmI have also played Cell Labs a while ago
gollark: Just implement communism and magically give everyone a RTX 2080.

References
  1. "Emily Barr leaves ABC 7 on top — but doesn't go far". Time Out Chicago. May 8, 2012. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
  2. "Breaking News: Post Newsweek Backs Out of WTVJ Deal". SFL.tv.com. 23 December 2008. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
  3. Ahrens, Frank (August 3, 2010). "Harman Media buys Newsweek from Washington Post Co. for Undisclosed Amount". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
  4. Farhi, Paul (1 October 2013). "The Washington Post closes sale to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
  5. Wilgoren, Debbi (November 18, 2013). "Washington Post Co. Renamed Graham Holdings Company to Mark Sale of Newspaper". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 18, 2013.
  6. "Washington Post's former TV arm changes name to Graham Media Group". Chicago Tribune. July 28, 2014. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
  7. "Warren Buffett Buys Post-Newsweek's WPLG". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
  8. "Application For Consent To Transfer Control Of Entity Holding Broadcast Station Construction Permit Or License", CDBS Public Access, Federal Communications Commission, Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  9. Consummation Notice, CDBS Public Access, Federal Communications Commission, Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  10. Graham Holdings and Berkshire Hathaway Complete Deal for Berkshire Hathaway to Acquire WPLG-TV Archived 2014-07-06 at Archive.today, Press Release, Graham Holdings Company, 1 July 2014, Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  11. "Exhibit 7 - Exchange Agreement", CDBS Public Access, Federal Communications Commission, Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  12. "Nexstar Selling Five Stations in Four Markets". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved May 27, 2016.
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