Formerly called
|
WTOP Inc. (1949–1954) Post Stations (1954–1961) Post-Newsweek Stations (1961–2014) |
---|---|
Subsidiary | |
Industry | Broadcast television |
Founded | 1949 |
Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois, USA |
Area served
|
United States Canada |
Key people
|
Emily L. Barr, president |
Parent | Graham Holdings Company |
Website | http://www.grahammedia.com |
Graham Media Group (formerly Post-Newsweek Stations) is the television broadcasting subsidiary of the Graham Holdings Company. It is now headquartered in Chicago, after being co-located for several years with its local NBC affiliate WDIV-TV in Detroit.
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. name after the Post acquired Newsweek magazine in 1961.
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.