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Taft Broadcasting

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Taft Broadcasting Company
Company typeCorporation
Industrytelevision and radio network
Founded1939
Defunct1999
FateAcquired by Clear Channel Communications
SuccessorClear Channel Communications[a]
HeadquartersCincinnati, Ohio

The Taft Broadcasting Company, also known as Taft Television and Radio Company, Incorporated, was an American media conglomerate based in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The company is rooted in the family of William Howard Taft, the 27th President of the United States. William Howard's half-brother, Peter Rawson Taft II, purchased the Cincinnati Times-Star newspaper in 1879; its later publishers included Peter's son Hulbert Taft Sr., and grandson Hulbert Taft Jr.

The company is notable for having been the owner of such major media and entertainment properties as Hanna-Barbera Productions, Worldvision Enterprises, Ruby-Spears Productions, KECO Entertainment and many television and radio stations. It also owned 50% of CIC Video's Australian operations, CIC-Taft Home Video.

The company went through a huge reorganization period starting in the late 1980s with its acquisition by Carl Lindner, Jr. to become Great American Broadcasting. Shortly after filing for bankruptcy in 1993, it became Citicasters and was in 1999, acquired by Clear Channel Communications. Taft — as Citicasters — is still incorporated as a holding company within Clear Channel.[1]

History

1939-1959

The Taft family's involvement in broadcasting began in 1939 as Radio Cincinnati, Inc., when the Cincinnati Times-Star purchased WKRC radio from CBS.[2][3]

In April 1949 Taft's first TV station, WKRC-TV in Cincinnati begins broadcasting.

In 1951, in its first expansion outside Ohio, Radio Cincinnati acquires a 20 percent interest in WBIR-AM-FM in Knoxville, Tennessee from father-and-son owners J. Lindsay and Gilmore Nunn.[4] A year-and-a-half later, the Taft family increases its stake to 30 percent when the Nunns sells additional shares in that station to Martha and Robert Ashe, John P. Hart, and Radio Cincinnati.[5]

In 1953, Radio Cincinnati purchases WTVN-TV (now WSYX) in Columbus, Ohio, from Picture-Waves, Inc., controlled by Toledo attorney and broadcaster Edward Lamb.[6][7][8]

In 1954, the company buys WHKC radio in Columbus from United Broadcasting, then-owners of WHK in Cleveland; WHKC is renamed WTVN.[9]

In August 1956 WBIR-TV in Knoxville begins broadcasting, under the same ownership structure as the WBIR radio stations.

In 1957, Radio Cincinnati purchased WBRC-AM-FM-TV in Birmingham, Alabama, from Storer Broadcasting.[10]

In 1958, the Cincinnati Times-Star is merged into the Cincinnati Post, published by the E.W. Scripps Company. Radio Cincinnati also purchases WKXP-TV in Lexington, Kentucky, from local interests and changes its call letters to WKYT-TV.[11]

In 1959, the company acquires the remaining 70 percent of WBIR-AM-FM-TV in Knoxville.[12] Also during this year, the Taft family merges its broadcasting subsidiaries into one, using the Taft Broadcasting Company name.[13][14][15]

1960-1979

The Taft logo from 1959-1974.

In 1960 Taft launches WTVN-FM in Columbus (it is now WLVQ). A year later the company sells the WBIR stations in Knoxville to WMRC, Inc. (later to become Multimedia Inc.) of Greenville, South Carolina.[16][17]

In 1963, Taft purchases several stations from Transcontinent Television Corporation: WDAF-AM-FM-TV in Kansas City, Missouri, WGR-AM-FM-TV in Buffalo, New York, and WNEP-TV in Scranton, Pennsylvania.[18][19]

In 1967, Taft purchased the Hanna-Barbera cartoon studio from its founders, Joseph Barbera, William Hanna and George Sidney.[20] Several months later in April 1967, the firm sold WKYT-TV to a subsidiary of Kentucky Central Life Insurance Company.[21]

In 1969, Taft purchased WIBF-TV in Philadelphia and changes its call letters to WTAF-TV.[22] The FCC initially grants Taft a waiver to keep both WTAF-TV and WNEP-TV, but later reversed itself in 1973 (four years later), and Taft sold the Scranton outlet to the station's management, who formed NEP Communications.[23]

In 1970, Taft forms Rhodes Productions, a television syndication arm for various independent TV programs, including those of Hanna-Barbera.

In 1972, Taft opened its first theme park, Kings Island, outside of Cincinnati. Taft owned five other theme parks through is KECO Entertainment division. WBRC radio and WBRC-FM in Birmingham are sold to Mooney Broadcasting.[24]

In 1974, Taft acquired Top 40 station KQV and rock outlet WDVE, both in Pittsburgh, from ABC Radio.[25]

In 1975, Rhodes Productions is sold to Filmways. Taft, H-B Program Sales and Taft, H-B International are established as the new domestic and overseas television distribution arms.

In 1979, Taft purchased WDCA-TV in Washington, D.C. from the Superior Tube Company.[26][27] Around this same period, Taft also acquires independent distributor Worldvision Enterprises (formerly a division of ABC) and production company QM Productions.

1980-1987

File:Wcix-1984.png
Station identification tag for WCIX from 1984, which also features the corporate logo for Taft Broadcasting.

In 1980, Taft acquires Sunn Classic Pictures and two additional Schick divisions.

In 1981, Taft acquired Ruby-Spears Productions from Filmways. Around this time, most references to Taft on TV and radio are split into two "subdivisions": the "Taft Entertainment Company" (which housed Hanna-Barbera, Ruby-Spears, Worldvision, the theme parks, and the TV and movie producing and distributing companies). The other was the "Taft Television & Radio Co, Inc.", (which housed the TV and radio stations).

In 1982, KQV in Pittsburgh is sold to its general manager Robert W. Dickey and newspaper publisher Richard Mellon Scaife, under the "Calvary, Inc." banner.[28]

In 1983, Taft exchanged WGR-TV in Buffalo to General Cinema Corporation's Coral Television subsidiary in return for WCIX in Miami.[29]

In 1985 Taft purchased Gulf Broadcasting, which includes KTXA in Fort Worth; KTXH in Houston; WTSP in St. Petersburg, Florida; KTSP-TV (now KSAZ-TV) in Phoenix; KESQ-TV in Palm Springs, California; and WGHP in High Point, North Carolina.[30][31] As a result, Taft sells several radio stations to CBS to comply with FCC rules.[32] KESQ-TV is spun-off to former Gulf Broadcasting executive E. Grant Fitts.[33]

In October 1986, WTAF-TV in Philadelphia and WCIX in Miami become charter affiliates of the Fox Broadcasting Company.[34] One month later, Taft announced the sale of both of those stations along with its three independent stations (WDCA-TV, KTXA, and KTXH) to the TVX Broadcast Group; the sale was completed in April 1987.[35][36] Taft also sells WGR radio and WRLT-FM (the former WGR-FM) in Buffalo to Rich Communications, a subsidiary of Buffalo-based Rich Products.[37]

Successor companies

Later in 1987 Cincinnati-based billionaire Carl Lindner, Jr., becomes Taft's majority stockholder in a hostile takeover and renames the company Great American Broadcasting (also known as Great American Communications) following a major restructuring of its operations. The new name comes from Linder's insurance company, Great American Insurance. The FCC considered this restructuring to be an ownership change, and told Lindner he could not keep both WTVN-TV and WKRC-TV. As a result, Great American spun off WTVN-TV to Anchor Media, a new firm composed of former Taft Broadcasting board members led by Texas millionaire Robert Bass. Another new company, led by former Taft Broadcasting president Dudley S. Taft Sr. (son of Hulbert Taft Jr.), took the Taft Broadcasting name. This new company retained WGHP and later purchases another Philadelphia station, WPHL-TV.[38][39]

In 1988, Great American Broadcasting sold Worldvision to Aaron Spelling Productions. Included with Worldvision is outright ownership of all of Great American's programming assets, except for the Hanna-Barbera and Ruby-Spears libraries, which remain owned by Great American for the time being. However, Worldvision continued to hold syndication rights until the two animation studios found new owners.

In 1991, Hanna-Barbera, along with much of the original Ruby-Spears library, is acquired by Turner Broadcasting, which becomes part of Time Warner in 1996. As part of this deal, syndication rights to the libraries passed to Turner Entertainment Co. and Turner Program Services (the latter is now Warner Bros. Television Distribution). The Ruby-Spears studio is spun off to a different, as yet unknown, owner.

In 1992, KECO Entertainment, Great American's theme park division, were sold to Paramount Communications (the parent of Paramount Pictures formerly Gulf+Western) and became Paramount Parks, later to be acquired by Viacom. (These parks were sold to Cedar Fair Entertainment Co. by CBS in 2006.) Great American also reacquires WGHP from Dudley Taft.

In 1993, Great American filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and renamed to Citicasters Communications. It also sells WKRC radio to Jacor Communications and shuts down Electra, a teletext service operated as a joint venture between Taft, Zenith, and Turner Broadcasting's WTBS (now WPCH-TV) in Atlanta.

In 1994, Citicasters sold most of its TV stations, including WDAF-TV and KSAZ-TV to New World Communications, and WBRC and WGHP to the News Corporation's Fox Television Stations unit, which would later acquire the New World chain.

In 1996, Citicasters, by then the owner of owned and operated two television stations, five AM radio stations and 14 FM radio stations, merged with Jacor, which became a subsidiary of Citicasters. Three months after the merger is completed, Jacor exchanged WTSP to Gannett in return for Gannett's radio stations in Los Angeles, San Diego and Tampa. In 1997, as a condition of the merger, Jacor sold WKRQ and the original WDAF-FM (by then KYYS, now KCKC) to American Radio Systems, which would become acquired by Infinity Broadcasting (now CBS Radio) in 1998. Also in 1997, Jacor sells WDAF-AM (now KCSP) to Entercom Communications.

In 1997, the Worldvision properties that had previously been under Taft and Great American (with the exception of the Hanna-Barbera and most of the Ruby-Spears material) are incorporated into Republic Pictures (today part of CBS Television Studios).

In 1999, Clear Channel Communications acquired Citicasters and Jacor. The Citicasters name lives on as a holding company and licensee under the Clear Channel corporate structure.[1]

Stations formerly owned by Taft Broadcasting and its successors

Television stations

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

Notes:
1. Two boldface asterisks appearing following a station's call letters (**) indicate a station that was built and signed-on by Taft;
2. This list does not include ownership by the second Taft Broadcasting Company, a company formed in the wake of the Great American takeover of the original Taft Broadcasting.

City of License/Market Station Channel
TV (DT) 		Years Owned Current Affiliation/Owner
Birmingham - Tuscaloosa - Anniston WBRC-TV 6 (50) 1957–1995 Fox affiliate owned by Raycom Media
Phoenix KTSP-TV
(now KSAZ-TV) 		10 (10) 1985–1994 Fox owned-and-operated (O&O)
Washington, D.C. WDCA-TV 20 (35) 1979–1987 MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated (O&O)
Miami - Fort Lauderdale WCIX
(now WFOR-TV) 		6
(now 4 (31)) 		1983–1987 CBS owned-and-operated (O&O)
St. Petersburg - Tampa WTSP 10 (10) 1985–1996 CBS affiliate owned by Gannett Company
Lexington, Kentucky WKYT-TV 27 (36) 1958–1967 CBS affiliate owned by Gray Television
Kansas City, Missouri WDAF-TV 4 (34) 1964–1994 Fox affiliate owned by Local TV
Buffalo, New York WGR-TV
(now WGRZ) 		2 (33) 1964–1983 NBC affiliate owned by Gannett Company
High Point - Greensboro -
Winston-Salem 		WGHP 8 (35) 1985–1987
1992–1994 		Fox affiliate owned by Local TV
Cincinnati WKRC-TV ** 12 (12) 1949–1996 CBS affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Columbus, Ohio WTVN-TV
(now WSYX) 		6 (48) 1953–1987 ABC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Philadelphia WTAF-TV
(now WTXF-TV) 		29 (42) 1969–1987 Fox owned-and-operated (O&O) WPHL-TV 17 1987–1991 MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Tribune Broadcasting
Scranton - Wilkes-Barre, PA WNEP-TV 16 (50) 1964–1973 ABC affiliate owned by Local TV
Knoxville, Tennessee WBIR-TV 10 (10) 1959–1961
(also held a 30% stake
from 1956–1959) 		NBC affiliate owned by Gannett Company
Fort Worth - Dallas KTXA 21 (29) 1985–1987 Independent owned by CBS Corporation
Houston KTXH 20 (19) 1985–1987 MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated (O&O)

Radio stations

(a partial listing)

AM Stations FM Stations
DMA# Market Station Current owner
24. Pittsburgh KQV-1410 Calvary, Inc.
WDVE-102.5 Clear Channel Communications
29. Cincinnati WKRC-550 Clear Channel Communications
WKRC-FM-101.9
(now WKRQ) 		Hubbard Broadcasting
32. Kansas City, Missouri WDAF-610
(now KCSP) 		Entercom Communications
WDAF-FM-102.1
(now KCKC) 		Wilks Broadcasting
37. Columbus, Ohio WTVN-610 Clear Channel Communications
WTVN-FM-96.3
(now WLVQ) 		Wilks Broadcasting
52. Buffalo, New York WGR-550 Entercom Communications
WGR-FM-96.9
(now WGRF) 		Cumulus Media
57. Birmingham, Alabama WBRC-960
(now WERC) 		Clear Channel Communications
WBRC-FM-106.9
(now WBPT) 		Cox Radio

Notes

  1. ^ Other large owners of former Taft assets include National Amusements through CBS Corporation and Viacom (some TV and radio stations, as well as most of the programming assets once owned by Taft), News Corporation (some TV stations), and Time Warner (most of Taft's animated library, including the Hanna-Barbera library).

References

  1. ^ a b Albiniak, Paige (November 25, 2001). "A Cloud Over Clear Channel; Petition says it controls stations through 'fronts,' including Ohio FM it seeks to buy". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
  2. ^ "Times-Star buys WKRC, Cincinnati." Broadcasting - Broadcast Advertising, September 1, 1939, pg. 34. [1]
  3. ^ "WKRC's transfer approved by FCC." Broadcasting - Broadcast Advertising, December 1, 1939, pg. 36. [2]
  4. ^ "Taft gets WBIR interest." Broadcasting - Telecasting, September 17, 1951, pg. 4. [3]
  5. ^ "FCC okays ownership shifts for KTHT, WBIR." Broadcasting - Telecasting, April 13, 1953, pg. 52. [4]
  6. ^ "TV station is purchased." The New York Times, January 13, 1953, pg. 32.
  7. ^ "Taft buys WTVN for $1.5 million." Broadcasting, January 19, 1953, pg. 56. [5]
  8. ^ "FCC approves WTVN (TV) sale from Lamb to Taft family." Broadcasting, March 2, 1953, pg. 54. [6]
  9. ^ "WHKC bought by WTVN (TV), WKRC interests for $158,000." Broadcasting - Telecasting, April 19, 1954, pg. 7. [7]
  10. ^ "This week's receipts: $26 million." Broadcasting - Telecasting, April 8, 1957, pp. 31-32. [8][9]
  11. ^ "Changing hands." Broadcasting, May 19, 1958, pp. 88, 90. [10][11]
  12. ^ "Changing hands." Broadcasting, October 12, 1959, pg. 54. [12]
  13. ^ "Taft files with SEC to sell common stock." Broadcasting, June 15, 1959, pg. 66. [13]
  14. ^ "For the record." Broadcasting, June 29, 1959, pg. 92: Subsidiaries WBRC, Inc. (WBRC-AM-FM-TV), WTVN, Inc. (WTVN-TV), Radio Cincinnati, Inc. (WKRC-AM-FM-TV and WKYT-TV), and Radio Columbus, Inc. (WTVN-AM-FM) were merged into Taft Broadcasting Co., announced June 23, 1959. [14]
  15. ^ "For the record." Broadcasting, February 8, 1960, pg. 98: Subsidiary WBIR, Inc. (WBIR-AM-FM-TV) was merged into Taft Broadcasting Co., announced February 1, 1960. [15]
  16. ^ "Changing hands." Broadcasting, September 26, 1960, pg. 50. [16]
  17. ^ "Principals complete WBIR-AM-TV transfer." Broadcasting, January 16, 1961, pg. 53. [17]
  18. ^ "Transcontinent sale: Last of its kind?" Broadcasting, February 24, 1964, pp. 27-28. [18][19]
  19. ^ "Radio-TV concern to sell stations." The New York Times, Aug. 3, 1963, pg. 21.
  20. ^ "Yogi and friends going to Taft." Broadcasting, October 31, 1966, pg. 78. [20]
  21. ^ "Station sales total $10.7 million." Broadcasting, May 1, 1967, pg. 58. [21]
  22. ^ "$20 million in TV sales approved." Broadcasting, May 12, 1969, pg. 48. [22]
  23. ^ "Changing hands." Broadcasting, November 26, 1973, pg. 28. [23]
  24. ^ "Taft's WBRC-AM-FM sold for $2 million." Broadcasting, January 24, 1972, pg. 29. [24]
  25. ^ "Taft in, ABC out of Pittsburgh radio." Broadcasting, April 1, 1974, pg. 22. [25]
  26. ^ "Taft's turn to buy WDCA-TV; price this time is $13.5 million." Broadcasting, May 1, 1978, pg. 50. [26]
  27. ^ "FCC stays on course, just barely, with top-50 policy; grants waiver for Taft buy of WDCA-TV." Broadcasting, August 20, 1979, pp. 25-26. [27] [28]
  28. ^ "Changing hands." Broadcasting, April 12, 1982, pg. 98. [29]
  29. ^ "$110 million deal for Miami independent." Broadcasting, August 2, 1982, pg. 24. [30]
  30. ^ "Taft buys Gulf." Broadcasting, February 4, 1985, pg. 38. [31]
  31. ^ "In brief." Broadcasting, June 3, 1985, pg. 128. [32]
  32. ^ "CBS's audio concentration." Broadcasting, May 6, 1985, pg. 40. [33]
  33. ^ Broadcasting Yearbook, 1987, pg. 353. [34]
  34. ^ "Fox network begins to take shape." Broadcasting, August 4, 1986, pg. 44. [35]
  35. ^ "Taft's TV's go to TVX for $240 million." Broadcasting, November 24, 1986, pg. 41. [36]
  36. ^ "McDonald paints a bright picture for TVX." Broadcasting, May 11, 1987, pg. 37. [37]
  37. ^ "Changing hands." Broadcasting, February 23, 1987, pg. 64. [38]
  38. ^ "Taft Broadcasting now Taft-less." Broadcasting, February 2, 1987, pg. 43. [39]
  39. ^ "Green light expected for Taft sale." Broadcasting, September 28, 1987, pp. 36-37. [40][41]

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