Graham Media Group (formerly Post-Newsweek Stations) is the televisionbroadcasting subsidiary of the Graham Holdings Company. It is now headquartered in Detroit,[1] co-locating with its local NBC affiliate WDIV-TV, after spending 10 years in Chicago.[2]
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. From 1961 to 1962, Post-Newsweek held 46% ownership with San Diego television station KFSD-TV (later KOGO-TV) with the investment firm of Fox, Wells & Rogers owning 54%. Post-Newsweek declined to acquire full ownership of KOGO-TV (now KGTV) and the venture ended when the station was sold to the broadcasting division of Time-Life in 1962.
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.
Post-Newsweek nearly expanded to seven stations in 2008, when it offered to purchase NBC-ownedWTVJ, 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.[3]
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,[4] and of the Washington Post to Jeff Bezos in October 2013,[5] after which the Washington Post Company was renamed Graham Holdings Company.[6] 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.[7]
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.[8] 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.[9][10][11][12]
On May 27, 2016, Graham announced that as part of the acquisition of Media General by Nexstar Broadcasting Group, 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, in divestitures tied to the sale.[13]
Stations
Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state and city of license.
^Named after Katharine Meyer Graham, widow of Phillip Graham who took his place as head of The Washington Post Company.
^ abOwned by H&C Communications prior to its acquisition by Post-Newsweek in 1994.
^Co-owned with Fox, Wells & Rogers from 1961 to 1962 in a joint venture; 54% owned by Fox, Wells & Rogers, 46% owned by Post-Newsweek.
^Named after 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.
^ abcCo-owned with CBS until 1954 in a joint venture; 55% owned by the Post, 45% owned by CBS.
^Named after Phillip L. Graham, former publisher of the Washington Post who died in 1963.
