River City Broadcasting

River City Broadcasting L.P. was a major television and radio station operator in mid-sized markets in the United States, based in St. Louis, Missouri.

Overview

The firm was formed in 1989 as a partnership between Barry Baker and Larry Marcus, both former executives of Koplar Communications in St. Louis who had unsuccessfully tried to buy Koplar's KPLR-TV there.[1] Through a series of acquisitions between 1989 and 1995, River City amassed eight television stations and 29 radio stations in a total of 15 medium-sized markets, but most notably, in 1994, it bought out three network-affiliated TV stations and another four radio stations that were owned by Continental Broadcasting, formerly Anchor Media, including KOVR, WLOS, and WSYX.[2][3] In the summer of 1994, River City and ABC reached an agreement to renew its existing contracts in Columbus and Asheville, while agreeing to affiliate its flagship at that time, and lame duck Fox affiliate KDNL-TV in St. Louis with ABC.[4] The acquisition of Keymarket Communications in 1995 added additional radio stations in the Buffalo, Los Angeles, Memphis, Nashville, New Orleans, and Scranton–Wilkes-Barre markets.[5][6]

In May 1996, River City sold its stations to the Sinclair Broadcast Group for $1.2 billion.[7][8] The merger moved Sinclair into the top 25 owners of broadcast properties in the United States.[9] Sinclair had to wait to close on some of the purchases; the Upstate South Carolina radio cluster was not acquired until 1998 because it overlapped with WLOS in Asheville, North Carolina, which serves the region.[10]

Stations owned

Radio
Radio stations owned by River City Broadcasting
Market Station Frequency Years owned
St. Louis, Missouri WVRV 101.1 MHz 1990–1996
KPNT 105.7 MHz –1996
Buffalo, New York WMJQ 102.5 MHz 1995–1996
WKSE 98.5 MHz 1995–1996
WBEN 930 kHz 1995–1996
WWKB 1520 kHz 1995–1996
New Orleans, Louisiana WLMG 101.9 MHz 1995–1996
KMEZ 102.9 MHz 1995–1996
WWL 870 kHz 1995–1996
WSMB 1350 kHz 1995–1996
Memphis, Tennessee WRVR 104.5 MHz 1995–1996
WOGY 94.1 MHz 1995–1996
WJCE 680 kHz 1995–1996
Nashville, Tennessee WJCE-FM 101.1 MHz 1995–1996
WLAC 1510 kHz 1995–1996
WLAC-FM 105.9 MHz 1995–1996
Greenville–Spartanburg, South Carolina WSPA 910 kHz 1995–1998
WSPA-FM 98.9 MHz 1995–1998
WFBC 1330 kHz 1995–1998
WFBC-FM 93.7 MHz 1995–1998
WORD 950 kHz 1995–1998
Scranton–Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania WKRZ 98.5 MHz 1995–1996
WGGY 101.3 MHz 1995–1996
WILK 980 kHz 1995–1996
WGBI 910 kHz 1995–1996
Albuquerque, New Mexico KZRR 94.1 MHz 1994–1996
KLSK 104.1 MHz 1994–1996
KZSS 610 kHz 1994–1996
Los Angeles, California KBLA 1580 kHz 1995–1996

Television stations
TV stations owned by River City Broadcasting
City of license / Market Station Channel Years owned Current status
Sacramento - Stockton - Modesto KOVR 13 1994–1997 CBS owned-and-operated (O&O)
Bloomington - Indianapolis WTTV 4 1991–1997 CBS affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Kokomo, Indiana WTTK
(satellite of WTTV)		 29 1991–1997 CBS affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Des Moines - Ames KDSM-TV 17 1991–1997 Fox affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
St. Louis KDNL-TV 30 1989–1997 ABC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Columbus, Ohio WSYX 6 1994–1997 ABC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Asheville - Greenville - Spartanburg WLOS 13 1994–1997 Dual ABC/MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
WAXA/WFBC-TV[lower-alpha 1] 40 1994–1997 Dabl affiliate, WMYA-TV, owned by Cunningham Broadcasting
(Operated through a LMA by Sinclair Broadcast Group)
San Antonio KABB 29 1989–1997 Fox affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group

See also

Notes
  1. WAXA was a full-time satellite of WLOS for most of its ownership by River City until being spun out as independent station WFBC-TV in September 1995.

References
  1. McWhorter, Darrell (October 11, 1990). "KSTZ's Buyers Put Faith In New Partner". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. p. 7E. Retrieved March 17, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. "Continental drifts to River City" (PDF). Broadcasting. May 16, 1994. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  3. Berger, Jerry (May 10, 1994). "Broadcast Firm Expanding With 7-Station Deal". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. St. Louis, Missouri. p. 6C. Retrieved March 17, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. "Changing partners in Sacramento". Broadcasting & Cable. August 29, 1994.
  5. Zier, Julie A. (April 3, 1995). "River City buys Keymarket" (PDF). Broadcasting & Cable. p. 75.
  6. "The Year's Biggest Deals" (PDF). Radio & Records. February 2, 1996. p. 12.
  7. Jacobson, Gianna (April 12, 1996). "Sinclair Buys Radio and TV Stations for $1.2 Billion". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  8. Smith Amos, Denise (April 12, 1996). "River City Broadcasting Is Sold". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. St. Louis, Missouri. p. 8C, 10C. Retrieved March 17, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. Jensen, Elizabeth (April 12, 1996). "Little-known Sinclair Broadcast to buy River City, jumping into big league". The Wall Street Journal. p. B5. ProQuest 398506207.
  10. Franco, José (August 11, 1998). "Upstate radio stations have new owner". Spartanburg Herald Journal. Retrieved March 18, 2023.
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