Media General

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Not to be confused with MediaNews Group, a privately held media company based in Denver, Colorado.
 This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2012)
Media General, Inc.
Type Public (NYSE: MEG)
Industry Broadcast and Digital
Founded 1940
Headquarters 333 E. Franklin Street
Richmond, Virginia, 23219 USA
Key people J. Stewart Bryan III , chairman
Marshall N. Morton, president and CEO
Products Television
Radio
Website www.mediageneral.com

Media General, Inc. is a media company based in the Southeastern United States.

The company was formed in 1940 when Richmond, Virginia's two newspapers, the Times-Dispatch and News Leader, merged to form "Richmond Newspapers". In 1969, it was renamed "Media General", as the company's media properties grew and diversified.

In 1982 the company acquired The William B. Tanner Company (previously known as Pepper-Tanner), a commercial radio jingle production company headquartered in Memphis which competed with Dallas-based TM Productions, Century 21 Productions, JAM Creative Productions and PAMS. It was later divested in 1988.

In 1996, Media General acquired Park Communications, formerly owned by the media entrepreneur Roy H. Park.

Although Media General is headquartered in Richmond, Tampa is its largest market (#13).

Many of the television stations have a similar branding, similar slogans, and a similar appearance.

Contents

Major assets [edit]

TV stations [edit]

Market Station ... channel number Current affiliation Acquired Notes
Birmingham - Anniston - Tuscaloosa WVTM-TV 13 NBC 2006 One of four stations acquired from NBC Universal.
Mobile - Pensacola WKRG-TV 5 CBS 2000 Part of a group of stations acquired from Spartan Radiocasting.
Tampa - St. Petersburg WFLA-TV 8 NBC 1966 Acquired as the company's flagship station.
Augusta WJBF 6 ABC 2000 Part of a group of stations acquired from Spartan Radiocasting. Currently, Media General's only ABC affiliate.
WAGT 26 NBC;
CW (DT2)		 NA Owned by Schurz Communications, controlled by WJBF through joint sales and shared services agreements.
Columbus WRBL 3 CBS 2000 Part of a group of stations acquired from Spartan Radiocasting.
Savannah WSAV-TV 3 NBC;
MNTV/RTV (DT2)		 1997 Acquired in a trade that sent Richmond CBS affiliate WTVR to Raycom Media.
Jackson WJTV 12 CBS 2000 Acquired in a trade that sent Richmond CBS affiliate WTVR-TV to Raycom Media.[1][2]
Hattiesburg - Laurel WHLT 22 CBS 2000 Acquired in a trade that sent Richmond CBS affiliate WTVR-TV to Raycom Media. Serves as a semi-satellite of WJTV.
Greenville - New Bern - Washington WNCT-TV 9 CBS;
CW (DT2)		 1997 Part of a group of stations acquired from Park Communications owned by Roy H. Park.
Raleigh - Durham - Fayetteville WNCN 17 NBC 2006 One of four stations acquired from NBC Universal.
Columbus WCMH-TV 4 NBC 2006 One of four stations acquired from NBC Universal. Serves as the master-control hub facility for the company's NBC affiliates. Second-largest station in terms of revenues and profits.
Providence - New Bedford WJAR 10 NBC 2006 One of four stations acquired from NBC Universal.
Charleston WCBD-TV 2 NBC;
CW (DT2)		 1983 Originally an ABC affiliate until 1996 (Media General's third station).
Florence - Myrtle Beach WBTW-TV 13 CBS;
MNTV/RTV (DT2)		 2000 Part of a group of stations acquired from Spartan Radiocasting.
Greenville - Spartanburg - Asheville - Anderson WSPA-TV 7 CBS 2000 Part of a group of stations acquired from Spartan Radiocasting. Serves as the master-control hub facility for the company's CBS affiliates.
WYCW 62 CW 2001 Controlled by WSPA through a local marketing agreement from 1996 to 2001. Was a UPN affiliate until September 2006. Was WASV until April 2006.
Tri-Cities (TN / VA) WJHL-TV 11 CBS 1997 Part of a group of stations acquired from Park Communications owned by Roy H. Park.
Roanoke - Lynchburg WSLS-TV 10 NBC 1997 Part of a group of stations acquired from Park Communications owned by Roy H. Park.

Former Media General stations [edit]

Now owned by Schurz Communications, Inc. [edit]

*(flagship of the Kansas Broadcasting System, or KBS for short)

Now owned by Morris Multimedia, Inc. [edit]

Now owned by LIN TV Corporation [edit]

Now owned by Mission Broadcasting [edit]

Now owned by SagamoreHill Broadcasting, LLC [edit]

Now owned by Hoak Media Corporation [edit]

Now owned by University of Georgia Research Foundation [edit]

Now owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc. [edit]

Other assets [edit]

  • Blockdot
  • Boxerjam Media
  • DealTaker
  • Atlee Park

Former assets [edit]

On May 17, 2012, it was announced that investment company Berkshire Hathaway will be acquiring Media General's newspaper division (excluding The Tampa Tribune); these newspapers will be merged into Berkshire Hathaway's World Media Enterprises division, a sister company of its other newspaper holdings under the Omaha World-Herald.[6] The deal closed June 25, 2012 [1]. Media General's chairman and former CEO, J. Stewart Bryan III said the company faced a choice: either sell its newspaper division or file for bankruptcy protection. The latter, he said, was "unacceptable." [2] At the end of 2011, Media General had $658 million in debt. [3] In October 2012, The Tampa Tribune and its associated print and digital products were acquired by Tampa Media Group, Inc., a new company formed by Revolution Capital Group.[7]

Major newspapers [edit]

Community newspapers [edit]

Alabama [edit]

Florida [edit]

North Carolina [edit]

South Carolina [edit]

  • The Morning News (Florence) Daily Newspaper for Florence and the Pee Dee Region
  • The News and Post (Lake City)  – Weekly
  • The Marion Star (Marion) – Weekly
  • The Weekly Observer (Hemingway) – Weekly
  • The Hartsville Messenger  – Weekly

Virginia [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ http://www.accessmylibrary.com/comsite5/bin/pdinventory.pl?pdlanding=1&referid=2930&purchase_type=ITM&item_id=0286-5534159.  Missing or empty |title= (help)[dead link]
  2. ^ http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Mass_Media/Orders/1997/da971549.txt
  3. ^ "Media General Announces Sale of WTVQ-TV in Lexington, Ky., to Morris Network, Inc." (Press release). Media General. 2008-03-07. Retrieved 2008-03-07. 
  4. ^ a b "Media General Announces Sale of WMBB-TV in Panama City, Fla., and KALB/NALB-TV in Alexandria, La., to Hoak Media Corporation" (Press release). Media General. 2008-03-14. Retrieved 2008-03-15. 
  5. ^ "Media General Announces Sale of WNEG in Toccoa, Ga., to University of Georgia Research Foundation" (Press release). Media General. 2008-06-25. Retrieved 2008-06-25. 
  6. ^ Deadline: "Media General Shares Soar After Warren Buffett Agrees To Buy Its Newspapers", May 17, 2012.
  7. ^ ABC News: "The Tampa Tribune Sold to Private Equity Firm", October 8, 2012.

External links [edit]

Media General, Inc.
Corporate directors
Television stations
ABC network affiliate
CBS network affiliates
CW network affiliates
MyNetworkTV affiliates
NBC network affiliates
1 Media General operates this station owned by Schurz Communications. 2 This station airs Antenna TV programming outside of MyNetworkTV hours. 3 This station airs Me-TV programming outside of MyNetworkTV hours.
Other assets
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Media_General&oldid=541991466"