Drewry Communications
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| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Media |
| Founded | 1941 |
| Founder | Ransom H. Drewry |
| Defunct | December 1, 2015 |
| Fate | Acquired by Raycom |
| Successor | Raycom Media |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | Oklahoma Texas |
Key people | Robert Drewry (President) Bill Drewry (Chief Executive Officer) Larry Patton (General Manager) |
| Products | Broadcast television radio |
| Website | www.drewrybroadcasting.com/ |
The Drewry Communications Group was a media company based in Lawton, Oklahoma, wholly owned and operated by the Drewry family. The company was run by Robert Drewry (as the company's president), Bill Drewry (as its chief executive officer) and Larry Patton (as general manager), the former two are the sons of late family patriarch Ransom H. Drewry.
Drewry Communications' broadcasting properties consisted of 13 radio and television stations in Oklahoma and Texas, which are largely concentrated in western and central Texas.
History
The company traces it roots to Ransom H. Drewry's founding of radio station KSWO (1380 AM, now KKRX) in Lawton, Oklahoma in 1941. Six years later in 1947, Drewry signed on his second radio station, KRHD (1350 AM, now KPNS) in Duncan (the KRHD call letters, derived from Drewry's initials, would later be assigned to a television station in Bryan, Texas, that serves as a translator of the company's ABC affiliate in Waco, KXXV-TV). Drewry entered into television in 1953, when he and a group that included J.R. Montgomery, T.R. Warkentin, Robert P. Scott and G.G. Downing founded KSWO-TV (channel 7) in Lawton as the city's ABC affiliate, which signed on the air on March 8 of that year.
Over the years, the Drewry family gradually expanded their broadcasting group by acquiring other stations in the northern half of Texas. R.H. Drewry, in partnership with Ray Herndon (majority owner of KMID-TV in Midland, Texas) acquired CBS affiliate KFDA-TV (channel 10) in Amarillo, Texas in 1976 through their company, Amarillo Telecasters. After sons Robert and Bill Drewry took over the company following the elder Drewery's death, the company expanded further, later acquiring, among other stations, KWES-TV in Midland, Texas and Big Spring satellite KWAB-TV (both in 1991); KXXV-TV in Waco (in 1994); K60EE (now KTLE-LP) in Odessa (in 2001); KSCM-LP in Bryan (in 2006) and KEYU in Amarillo (in 2009).
Drewry sold KSWO radio, as well as KRHD and KRHD-FM (102.3 FM, now KKEN at 97.1 FM), to Anadarko, Oklahoma-based Monroe-Stephens Broadcasting in 1998. The company re-entered into radio in August 2002, when Drewry purchased Regional Mexican station KTXC (104.7 FM) in Lamesa, Texas.[1] The company expanded its radio holdings in 2014, when it purchased KRGN (102.9 FM) in Amarillo from Family Life Radio and relaunched it as a Spanish-language adult hits station under the call letters KEYU-FM.
On July 1, 2008, Drewry Communications announced its intention to sell its eleven television stations to Dallas-based London Broadcasting Company – a company founded by Terry E. London the previous year to acquire broadcast properties in small to mid-sized markets within Texas (its first being the purchase of CBS affiliate KYTX in Tyler in February 2008) – for $115 million. While the deal received approval by the Federal Communications Commission, London Broadcasting filed a notice of non-consummation to the FCC in January 2009, terminating the deal due to market uncertainties resulting from the Great Recession.[2][3]
On July 31, 2009, Drewry Communications entered into a joint sales and shared services agreement with KAUZ-TV owner Hoak Media, in which KSWO-TV would provide advertising and promotional services for KAUZ (Hoak would retain responsibilities over that station's programming, master control and production services). Although the two stations are jointly operated, KSWO-TV and KAUZ-TV both retained separate studio facilities and news operations at their respective facilities in Lawton and Wichita Falls. However the formation of the JSA/SSA led to the layoffs of four KAUZ-TV staffers – general manager Mike deLier, news director Dan Garcia, sales manager Randy Stone and news photographer Jim Allen – with those positions being assumed by existing KSWO-TV staff.[4]
On August 10, 2015, Raycom Media announced that it would purchase Drewry Communications Group for $160 million; in addition to acquiring its 11 television stations, as KTXC and KEYU-FM were included in the sale, the deal would also mark Raycom's re-entry into radio station ownership since it sold WMC and WMC-FM in Memphis, Tennessee to Infinity Broadcasting Corporation in 2000. As part of the deal, American Spirit Media would purchase KAUZ-TV from Hoak Media. While KSWO and KAUZ would remain jointly operated, the existing joint sales agreement between KSWO and KAUZ would be terminated upon the sale's closure due to FCC rules prohibiting such agreements by counting the sale of 15% or more of advertising time by one station to a competing junior partner station in the JSA as a duopoly in violation with the agency's ownership rules (the Wichita Falls-Lawton market has only four full-power television stations, four fewer than that allowed to legally form a duopoly). Upon the JSA's termination, Raycom entered into a shared services agreement with KAUZ, under which KSWO would handle news production, administrative and production operations, and provide equipment and building space for that station.[5][6] The sale was completed on December 1.[7]
List of stations formerly owned by Drewry
Television stations
Notes:
- (**) – Indicates that station was built and signed on by Drewry.
| City of license / Market | Station | Channel TV (RF) |
Years owned | Current ownership status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amarillo, Texas – Clovis, New Mexico | KFDA-TV | 10 (10) | 1976-2015 | CBS affiliate owned by Raycom Media |
| KZBZ-CD | 26 (26) | 2009-2015 | Independent station owned by Raycom Media | |
| KEYU | 31 (31) | 2009-2015 | Telemundo affiliate owned by Raycom Media | |
| KTMO-LP | 36 | 2001–2014 | defunct (was a Telemundo affiliate at the time of its shutdown) | |
| KAMT-LP | 50 | 2009–2010 1 | defunct (was a TeleFutura affiliate at the time of its shutdown) | |
| Lawton, Oklahoma – Wichita Falls, Texas | KSWO-TV ** | 7 (11) | 1953-2015 | ABC affiliate owned by Raycom Media |
| KAUZ-TV | 6 (26) | 2 | CBS affiliate owned by American Spirit Media (Operated through SSA by Raycom Media) | |
| KUWF-LP | 36 | 2009–2010 1 | defunct (was a Univision affiliate at the time of its shutdown) | |
| Midland – Odessa, Texas | KWES-TV | 9 (9) | 1991-2015 | NBC affiliate owned by Raycom Media |
| KWAB-TV (satellite of KWES-TV) |
4 (33) | 1991-2015 | NBC affiliate owned by Raycom Media | |
| KTLE-LP | 20 (20) | 2001-2015 | Telemundo affiliate owned by Raycom Media | |
| Waco – Temple – Bryan, Texas | KXXV-TV | 25 (26) | 1994-2015 | ABC affiliate owned by Raycom Media |
| KRHD-CD (semi-satellite of KXXV) |
40 (40) | 1997-2015 | ABC affiliate owned by Raycom Media | |
| KSCM-LP | 18 (32) | 2006-2015 | Telemundo affiliate owned by Raycom Media | |
| KUTW-LP | 35 | 2009–2010 1 | defunct (was a Univision affiliate at the time of its shutdown) | |
| KWKO-LP | 38 | 2009–2010 1 | defunct (was a Telemundo affiliate at the time of its shutdown) |
Radio stations
| AM Station | FM Station |
| City of license / Market | Station | Years Owned | Current Ownership Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lawton, Oklahoma | KSWO 1380 AM | 1941-1998 | KKRX, an Urban AC station owned by Perry Broadcasting of Southwest Oklahoma |
| Duncan, Oklahoma | KRHD 1350 AM | 1947-1998 | KPNS, a news/talk station owned by Perry Broadcasting of Southwest Oklahoma |
| KRHD-FM 102.3 | 1975-1998 | KKEN 97.1 FM, a country music station owned by Perry Broadcasting of Southwest Oklahoma | |
| Amarillo, Texas | KEYU-FM 102.9 | 2014-2015 | A Spanish adult hits station owned by Raycom Media |
| Lamesa – Midland, Texas | KTXC[1] 104.7 FM | 2002-2015 | A Regional Mexican station owned by Raycom Media |
Other notes:
- 1 Station was purchased by Drewry from Equity Media Holdings in 2009, but ceased operations in the fall of 2010.
- 2 Owned by Hoak Media, Drewry operated KAUZ-TV via joint sales and shared services agreements.[4]
References
- ^ a b "Odessa, Texas, NBC Affiliate Agrees to Purchase Popular Radio Station". Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. August 21, 2002. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
- ^ Michael Malone (July 1, 2008). "London Buys Drewry Stations". Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
- ^ "London Broadcasting buys 11 stations from Drewry". Dallas Business Journal. American City Business Journals. July 2, 2008. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
- ^ a b Lynn Walker (August 3, 2009). "KAUZ-TV CBS affiliate in Wichita Falls under new management". Wichita Falls Times Record News. E. W. Scripps Company. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
- ^ Harry A. Jessell (August 10, 2015). "Raycom Buying Drewry For $160 Million". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
- ^ Lynn Walker (August 11, 2015). "KAUZ, KSWO to change ownership". Wichita Falls Times-Record News. Journal Media Group. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
- ^ Raycom Media Completes $160 Million Acquisition of Drewry Communications Broadcasting & Cable, Retrieved 1 December 2015.