Raycom Media

Raycom Media, Inc.
Private corporation
Industry Broadcast Television
Television Production
Fate To be acquired by Gray Television
Founded 1996 (1996)
Headquarters Montgomery, Alabama, U.S.
Area served
 United States (Nationwide)
Key people
 Pat LaPlatney
(President & CEO)
Revenue $2.4 billion[1]
Number of employees
 8,300
Subsidiaries
Website raycommedia.com

Raycom Media, Inc. is an American television broadcasting company based in Montgomery, Alabama. Raycom owns and/or provides services for 65 television stations and two radio stations across 44 markets in 20 states. Raycom, through its Community Newspaper Holdings subsidiary, also owns multiple newspapers in small and medium-sized markets throughout the United States.

History

Raycom Media's logo from its 1996 founding until December 2017, using elements from the original Raycom Sports logo.

Raycom's three founding owners were Stephen Burr (a Boston lawyer), Ken Hawkins (general manager) and William Zortman (news director) with funding from Retirement Systems of Alabama.[2] In the second quarter 1996, Raycom purchased for over $700 million Ellis Communications' broadcasting stations, 15 television and two radio,[2] plus Bert Ellis's Raycom Sports.[3] In mid-year 1996, the company agreed to purchase from Federal Enterprises Inc. of suburban Detroit for $160 million eight station in the Southeast and the Midwest.[2] Raycom bought Aflac's broadcast division of five TV stations in August 1996 mainly using a loan from the RSA.[2][4] The three groups merged to form Raycom Media. John Hayes initially headed up the company until 2001.[3]

Raycom took a 35% stake in Worldnow, an internet publishing provider for broadcast media, in 1998.[3]:2 In 1998, Raycom purchased Malrite Communications, owner of five stations, two Puerto Rico stations, three Ohio stations, and one Florida station.[5]

In 2001, Paul McTear took over as Raycom’s president and CEO from Hayes.[3]:2 Raycom sold a dozen of its stations to Barrington Broadcasting in August 2006.[6] On January 31, 2006, the company acquired the Liberty Corporation[7] Raycom agreed to affiliated its NBC stations' subchannel with NBC Weather Plus,[8] a joint venture between the affiliates and NBC station group.[9]

In April 2005, Raycom was testing The Tube Music Network on station WFLX-TV, a Fox affiliate, for three weeks. Raycom then announced on April 25, 2005, it was the launch station group for The Tube affiliating 29 stations.[8] Raycom launched the network in June 2005 on 30 stations with Cleveland being the largest market.[10] Raycom Media was an initial round investor in The Tube Music Network.[11]

On November 12, 2007, Raycom announced its intention to acquire some of the television broadcasting properties of Lincoln National Corporation's Lincoln Financial Media—three television stations (see table below), plus Lincoln Financial Sports—for $583 million.[12] Lincoln Financial Sports was merged into Raycom Sports later that year.[13] The purchase of the stations were completed on April 2, 2008.[14]

Around 2010, Raycom moved into producing its own program due to dissatisfaction in sign up for two years for unscripted syndicated programming usually without a pilot. Scripps, Cox and Raycom partnered for the Magic Dust production of Right This Minute that launched in 2011. The company on its own launched America Now, a lifestyle-oriented news magazine, in 2011. The show that had a limited budget and could not get carriage outside Raycom stations. The magazine lasted until September 2014. In partnership with Bellum Entertainment Group in 2014, Flip My Food and Fix It and Finish It were launched as strips as lead in to Raycom early newscasts. In third quarter 2014, Raycom purchased RTM Productions, based in Nashville and produces PowerNation branded auto-oriented shows for the Paramount Network, NBCSN, and CBS Sports Network.[3]:2 Raycom acquired the assets of live and studio sports programming production company Tupelo-Honey Productions in January 2012.[15]

In 2011, Raycom was an initial investor in Bounce TV, a broadcast subchannel network.[16]1 Raycom News Network Digital Hub, an online news aggregator and exchange, was started in 2011 at the company main office in Montgomery, Alabama.[3]:2 Raycom Media was an initial investors in Katz Broadcasting, launched in 2014 and a Bounce affiliated subchannel network group.[16]

On November 20, 2013, Raycom entered into a shared services agreement to operate Louisiana Media Company's WVUE-TV in New Orleans.[17]

On August 10, 2015, Raycom announced that it would purchase stations owned by Drewry Communications for $160 million.[18] The sale was completed on December 1, 2015.[19]

Raycom acquired Indianapolis-based sports production company WebStream Sports on September 14, 2015.[20] WebStream was subsequently merged with existing Raycom entity Tupelo Honey to form Tupelo Raycom in January 2016.[21]

In October 2015, Raycom acquired Fox affiliate KNIN-TV for $14.5 million from E.W. Scripps Company; the FCC required that the station be divested during Scripps' acquisition of Journal Communications, but Scripps entered into shared services agreements with Raycom to continue operating KNIN.[22]

Raycom purchased PureCars, a digital ad platform focused on automotive sales, for $125 million in November 2015.[23]

On April 4, 2017, Raycom reached an agreement to acquire WVUE outright.[24]

In May 2017, Raycom Media purchased Calkins Media's WWSB and WTXL-TV. A sale of Calkins' WAAY-TV to Raycom affiliate American Spirit Media was blocked by the Department of Justice due to Raycom's ownership of WAFF-TV, and was instead sold to Heartland Media.[25] The deal increased Raycom's reach to 16% of U.S. television households.[26]

On September 25, 2017, Raycom announced that it would merge with Community Newspaper Holdings (CNHI), which was principally owned by Retirement Systems of Alabama. CNHI will continue to operate as a subsidiary of Raycom. To comply with FCC newspaper cross-ownership restrictions, Raycom divested newspapers in the seven markets where CNHI and Raycom both own properties.[27][28][29]

On June 14, 2018, Raycom announced the launch of InvestigateTV, an OTT app that will showcase longer-form content from Raycom as well as content from ProPublica, News21 at Arizona State University’s Cronkite School of Journalism, and NerdWallet.[30]

On June 25, 2018, Gray Television announced its intent to acquire Raycom for $3.65 billion, pending regulatory approval. Following the completion of the sale, Raycom president and CEO Pat LaPlatney will be the president and a co-CEO of Gray Television, but will be joined by Gray's current CEO Hilton Howell as an executive chairman and co-CEO. The combined company, which will operate under the Gray name, will be the third-largest owner of television stations in the United States.[31][32] The sale will not include CNHI, which will be sold separately.[33]

Operations

Raycom currently owns and/or operates 65 television stations and two radio stations in 44 markets located in 20 states. Raycom owns or provides services for stations covering over 16% of U.S. television households and employs over 4,800 individuals in full- and part-time positions.

Stations

Stations are arranged alphabetically by state and by city of license.

Notes:

  • (**) – built and signed-on by Raycom Media.
  • (§§) – owned by Aflac and Ellis Communications prior to the formation of Raycom Media in 1996.
  • (≈≈) – owned by Federal Communications prior to its acquisition by Raycom Media in 1997.
  • (¤¤) – owned by Malrite Communications prior to its acquisition by Raycom Media in 1998.
  • (##) – owned by Waitt Media prior to its acquisition by Raycom Media in 2003.
  • (++) – owned by The Liberty Corporation prior to its acquisition by Raycom Media in 2006.
  • (~~) – owned by Lincoln Financial Media prior to its acquisition by Raycom Media in 2008.
  • (∆) – owned by Drewry Communications prior to its acquisition by Raycom Media in 2015.
  • (♦♦) – owned by Calkins Media prior to its acquisition by Raycom Media in 2017.

Current owned or operated television stations

City of license / market Station Channel
TV (RF)		 Owned since Network affiliation
Birmingham - Tuscaloosa - Anniston, AL WBRC 6 (50) 2009[34] Fox
Dothan - Ozark WDFX-TV ## 34 (33) 2003 Fox
Huntsville - Decatur WAFF §§ 48 (48) 1996 NBC
Montgomery - Selma WSFA ++ 12 (12) 2006 NBC
Jonesboro KAIT ++ 8 (8) 2006 ABC
NBC (DT2)

The CW (DT3)

Tucson - Douglas - Sierra Vista KOLD-TV §§ 13 (32) 1996 CBS
KMSB 11 (25) 1 Fox
KTTU 18 (19) 2 MyNetworkTV
Panama City WPGX ## 28 (9) 2003 Fox
Sarasota WWSB ♦♦ 40 (24) 2017 ABC
Tallahassee WTXL-TV ♦♦ 27 (27) 2017 ABC
West Palm Beach - Fort Pierce WFLX ¤¤ 3 29 (28) 1998 Fox
Albany WALB ++ 10 (10) 2006 NBC
ABC (DT2)
Augusta WFXG 54 (51) 2003 Fox
Columbus WTVM §§ 9 (11) 1996 ABC
WXTX 54 (49) 4 Fox
Savannah WTOC-TV §§ 11 (11) 1996 CBS
Honolulu KGMB 5 (23) 2009 CBS
KFVE 9 (22) 5 MyNetworkTV
KHNL 13 (35) 1999 NBC
Hilo KHBC-TV
(Satellite of KHNL)		 2 (22) 1999 NBC
CBS (DT2)
KGMD-TV
(Satellite of KFVE)		 9 (9) 5 MyNetworkTV
Wailuku - Maui KGMV
(Satellite of KFVE)		 3 (24) 5 MyNetworkTV
KOGG
(Satellite of KHNL)		 15 (16) 1999 NBC
CBS (DT2)
Caldwell - Boise KNIN-TV 3 9 (10) 2015[35] Fox
Evansville WFIE ++ 14 (46) 2006 NBC
Ottumwa - Kirksville KYOU-TV 15 (15) 4 Fox
NBC (DT2)
Louisville WAVE ++ 3 (47) 2006 NBC
Baton Rouge WAFB §§ 9 (9) 1996 CBS
WBXH-CD 39 (39) MyNetworkTV
Lake Charles KPLC ++ 7 (7) 2006 NBC
The CW (DT2)
KVHP 29 (30) 4 Fox
ABC (DT2)
New Orleans WVUE-DT 8 (29) 2017 Fox
Shreveport - Texarkana KSLA §§ 12 (17) 1996 CBS
Biloxi - Gulfport - Pascagoula WLOX ++ 13 (39) 2006 ABC
CBS (DT2)
Jackson WLBT ++ 3 (30) 2006 NBC
WLOO 35 (41) 6 MyNetworkTV
WDBD 40 (40) 4 Fox
Laurel - Hattiesburg WDAM-TV ≈≈ 7 (7) 1997 NBC
Cape Girardeau - Paducah - Harrisburg KFVS-TV §§ 12 (12) 1996 CBS
WQTV-LP 24 The CW/MeTV
WQWQ-LP 9 The CW/MeTV
Charlotte WBTV ~~ 3 (23) 2008 CBS
Wilmington WECT §§ 6 (44) 1996 NBC
WSFX-TV 4 26 (30) 4 Fox
Cincinnati, OH - Newport, KY WXIX-TV ¤¤ 19 (29) 1998 Fox
Cleveland - Shaker Heights - Lorain, OH WOIO ¤¤ 19 (10) 1998 CBS
MeTV (DT2)
WUAB 43 (28) 2000 The CW/MyNetworkTV
Toledo WTOL ++ 11 (11) 2006 CBS
WUPW §§ 36 (46) 4
(previously owned from 1996-1999)		 Fox
Lawton, OK - Wichita Falls, TX KSWO-TV ∆ 7 (11) 2015 ABC
KAUZ-TV 6 (26) 4 CBS
KSWX 31 ThisTV
Charleston WCSC-TV ~~ 5 (47) 2008 CBS
Columbia WIS ++ 10 (10) 2006 NBC
Myrtle Beach - Florence WMBF-TV ** 32 (32) 2008 NBC
Knoxville WTNZ §§ 43 (34) 1996 Fox
Memphis WMC-TV §§ 5 (5) 1996 NBC
Amarillo, TX - Clovis, NM KFDA-TV ∆ 10 (10) 2015 CBS
KZBZ-CD ∆ 26 (26) 2015 CBS
KEYU ∆ 31 (31) 2015 Telemundo
Lubbock KCBD ++ 11 (11) 2006 NBC
Midland - Odessa KWES-TV ∆ 9 (9) 2015 NBC
The CW (DT2)
KWAB-TV ∆
(Satellite of KWES)		 9 (33) 2015 NBC
The CW (DT2)
KTLE-LP ∆ 20 (20) 2015 Telemundo
Tyler - Longview - Jacksonville KLTV ++ 7 (7) 2006 ABC
Telemundo (DT3)
Lufkin - Nacogdoches KTRE ++
(Semi-satellite of KLTV)		 9 (9) 2006 ABC
Telemundo (DT2)
Waco - Temple - Bryan KXXV ∆ 25 (26) 2015 ABC
Telemundo (DT2)
KRHD-CD ∆
(Semi-satellite of KXXV)		 40 (40) 2015 ABC
Telemundo (DT2)
Richmond - Petersburg - Ashland, VA WWBT ~~ 12 (12) 2008 NBC
MeTV (DT2)
WUPV 65 (47) 4 The CW

Other notes:

  • 1 Owned by Tegna, Inc. Raycom operates by KMSB through a shared service agreement.
  • 2 Owned by Tucker Operating Co., LLC. Raycom operates by KTTU through a shared service agreement.
  • 3 While KNIN-TV and WFLX are owned by Raycom, these stations are operated through a shared services agreement by the E.W. Scripps Company.
  • 4 Owned by American Spirit Media, Raycom operates the stations through a shared services agreement.
  • 5 Owned by MCG Capital Corporation, Raycom operates KFVE and its satellites through a shared services agreement.
  • 6 Owned by Tougaloo College and partnered with American Spirit Media station WDBD through a joint sales agreement. Raycom provides limited engineering support.

Current owned radio stations

City of license/market Station Owned since Current format
Amarillo, Texas KEYU-FM 102.9 FM ∆ 2015 Spanish adult hits
Lamesa – Midland, Texas KTXC 104.7 FM ∆ 2015 Regional Mexican

Former owned stations

City of license / Market Station Channel
TV (RF)		 Years owned Current ownership status
Colorado Springs - Pueblo KXRM-TV 21 (22) 2000–2006 Fox affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
KXTU-LD 57 (20) 1999–2006 The CW affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Albany WFXL ## 31 (12) 2004–2006 Fox affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Savannah WSAV-TV §§ 3 (39) 1996–1997 NBC affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Cedar Rapids - Waterloo -
Iowa City - Dubuque		 KWWL §§ 7 (7) 1996–2006 NBC affiliate owned by Quincy Media
Marquette - Escanaba WLUC-TV 6 (35) 1997–2006 NBC affiliate owned by Gray Television
Traverse City - Cadillac WPBN-TV 7 (47) 1997–2006 NBC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sault Ste. Marie - Cheboygan WTOM-TV
(Satellite of WPBN)		 4 (35) 1997–2006 NBC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Jackson WJTV §§ 12 (12) 1996–1997 CBS affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Hattiesburg - Laurel WHLT §§
(Semi-satellite of WJTV)		 22 (22) 1996–1997 CBS affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Kirksville - Ottumwa KTVO 3 (33) 1997–2006 ABC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Reno, Nevada KAME-TV §§ 21 (20) 1996–1997 MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Deerfield Media
(Operated through a SSA by Sinclair Broadcast Group)
Albuquerque - Santa Fe KASA-TV 2 (27) 1999–2007 Telemundo affiliate owned by Ramar Communications
Syracuse WSTM-TV ≈≈ 3 (24) 1997–2006 NBC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
WSTQ-LP 14 2003–2006 The CW affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Washington - Greenville - New Bern WITN-TV §§ 7 (32) 1997 NBC affiliate owned by Gray Television
Wilmington WWAY ++ 3 (46) 2006 ABC affiliate owned by Morris Multimedia
Toledo - Findlay WNWO-TV ¤¤ 24 (49) 1998–2006 NBC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Columbia WACH §§ 57 (48) 1996–2006 Fox affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sioux Falls KSFY-TV §§ 13 (13) 1997–2004 ABC affiliate owned by Gray Television
Aberdeen KABY-TV §§
(Satellite of KSFY)		 9 (9) 1997–2004 ABC affiliate owned by Gray Television
Pierre KPRY-TV §§
(Satellite of KSFY)		 4 (19) 1997–2004 ABC affiliate owned by Gray Television
Harlingen - Weslaco -
Brownsville - McAllen - Pharr -
Reynosa - Matamoros		 KGBT-TV ++ 4 (31) 2006 CBS affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Waco - Temple - Bryan KSCM-LP ∆ 18 (32) 2015–2017 defunct, went dark in 2017
Richmond - Petersburg WTVR-TV 6 (25) 1997–2009 CBS affiliate owned by Tribune Broadcasting
Yakima KNDO ≈≈ 23 (16) 1997–1999 NBC affiliate owned by Cowles Company
Richland - Pasco - Kennewick KNDU ≈≈
(Satellite of KNDO)		 26 (25) 1997–1999 NBC affiliate owned by Cowles Company
Caguas - San Juan - Ponce WLII-DT 1 11 (11) 1996–2005 Univision owned-and-operated (O&O)
WSUR-DT 1
(Satellite of WLII)		 9 (9) 1996–2005 Univision owned-and-operated (O&O)

Raycom also owned two radio stations in Memphis, WMC-AM–FM, from 1996 to 2000.

Other notes:

  • 1 The company continuously owned the two stations after Univision began operating them under a Local Marketing Agreement in 2002. Univision later bought the stations outright. Also, WORA-TV in Mayagüez which repeats 95% of WLII/WSUR's programming but operates under a separate owner. WLII & WSUR also operate locally owned WSTE under an LMA. Like all Univision owned and operated stations, WLII and WSUR-TV opted to add/change the "-DT" suffix to their callsigns after the digital transition and eliminate the "-TV" suffix.

Other assets

In addition to television stations, Raycom also owns:

Tupelo Raycom

Tupelo Raycom is Raycom Media's production company formed from the merger of Tupelo Honey Productions and WebStream Sports. Clients of the company include NBC, CBS, ESPN, Turner Sports, Fox, Travel Channel, Bounce TV and Live Nation.[21]

Raycom acquired the assets of live and studio sports programming production company Tupelo-Honey Productions in January 2012. Tupelo Honey assets included a 50% share of MY Tupelo Entertainment, a joint venture form in 2009 as partnership between Cary Glotzer’s Tupelo-Honey and Michael Yudin’s MY-Entertainment Company. Yudin bought back Raycom's half of My Tupelo in March 2014.[15]

Raycom acquired Indianapolis, Indiana-based sports production company WebStream Sports on September 14, 2015.[20] WebStream was subsequently merged with existing Raycom entity Tupelo Honey to form Tupelo Raycom in January 2016.[21]

References

  1. ↑ "Raycom Media Revenue and Financial Reports". Hoovers. Retrieved July 10, 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Treaster, Joseph B. (August 14, 1996). "Venture in Accord to Buy 7 TV Stations From Aflac". The New York Times. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Colman, Price (February 4, 2015). "Raycom: Succeeding By Evolving, Innovating". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  4. ↑ "Terms of AFLAC-Raycom TV station deal announced". Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. August 16, 1996. p. C9. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  5. ↑ Littleton, Cynthia (April 7, 1998). "Raycom inks Malrite deal". Variety. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Raycom sells 12 TV stations". Birmingham Business Journal. August 11, 2006. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  7. ↑ Hunt, Katherine (January 31, 2006). "Raycom Media completes acquisition of Liberty". MarketWatch. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  8. 1 2 "Raycom Launches The Tube Music Network". Billboard. Billboard-Hollywood Reporter Media Group. Mediaweek. April 25, 2005. Retrieved September 7, 2017.
  9. ↑ Greppi, Michelle (2008-10-07). "NBC Shutting Down Weather Plus". TelevisionWeek. Retrieved 2008-10-07.
  10. ↑ "Les Garland's Latest Video Invention". Broadcasting & Cable. May 22, 2005. Retrieved September 7, 2017.
  11. ↑ Jessell, Harry A. (August 3, 2016). "LaPlatney To Power Raycom With TV + Digital". TVNewsCheck.com. pp. 1–2. Retrieved September 7, 2017.
  12. ↑ Malone, Michael (November 12, 2007). "Raycom Grabs Lincoln Financial Stations". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  13. ↑ Spranberg, Eric (August 25, 2008). "Raycom loses Southeastern Conference". Charlotte Business Journal'. Retrieved April 7, 2014.
  14. ↑ Malone, Michael (April 2, 2008). "Raycom Media Completes Lincoln Financial Stations Acquisition". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  15. 1 2 Benzine, Adam (March 25, 2014). "Exclusive: Yudin acquires Raycom's 50% stake in MY Tupelo". Realscreen. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  16. 1 2 3 4 Jessell, Harry A. (October 13, 2015). "OTA The Bedrock of Katz's Growing Diginets". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved October 15, 2015.
  17. ↑ "WVUE enters into shared-services agreement with Raycom Media". NOLA.com. Retrieved 2017-09-27.
  18. ↑ Jessell, Harry A. (August 10, 2015). "Raycom Buying Drewry For $160 Million". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
  19. ↑ Raycom Media Completes $160 Million Acquisition of Drewry Communications Broadcasting & Cable, Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  20. 1 2 "Raycom Media Acquires WebStream Sports". Sports Video Group. September 11, 2015. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  21. 1 2 3 Marszalek, Diana (January 5, 2017). "Raycom Merges Its Sports & Entertainment Production Companies". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved September 1, 2017.
  22. ↑ "Raycom Closes On KNIN Boise Purchase". TVNewsCheck.com. Retrieved 2017-05-13.
  23. ↑ "Raycom's Digital Platform PureCars Helps Local Dealers Think Like National Advertisers". AdExchanger. 2016-08-16. Retrieved 2017-05-13.
  24. ↑ "Raycom Reaches Deal to Buy WVUE New Orleans". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 2017-05-13.
  25. ↑ "Raycom Closes On WWSB And WTXL". TVNewsCheck.com. May 1, 2017. Retrieved September 5, 2017.
  26. ↑ "Raycom Media Acquires WWSB and WTXL". Florida Trend. Retrieved 2017-05-13.
  27. ↑ "Raycom Buying CHNI Newspapers". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 2017-09-27.
  28. ↑ "Two Alabama media giants to join forces =". Birmingham Business Journal. Retrieved 2017-09-27.
  29. ↑ "Raycom Sees Synergies In Newspapers Buy". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved 2017-09-27.
  30. ↑ "Raycom launches OTT app InvestigateTV". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  31. ↑ Hufford, Austen (2018-06-25). "Gray TV to Buy Raycom in $3.65 Billion Deal". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
  32. ↑ Hayes, Dade (2018-06-25). "Gray Acquiring Raycom For $3.65B, Forming No. 3 Local TV Group". Deadline. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
  33. ↑ "CNHI, owner of Mass. newspapers, to be sold". Boston Herald. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
  34. ↑ Local TV Closes on WTVR
  35. ↑ Raycom closes On KNIN Boise Purchase - TVNewsCheck
  36. ↑ "Worldnow Being Sold In $45 Million Deal". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
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