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Storer Communications

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Storer Broadcasting, Inc. is a former owner of television and radio stations in the United States. It was incorporated in Ohio in 1927, and sold its broadcasting properties in 1983.

History

In 1927 George B. Storer and his brother-in-law J. Harold Ryan were building service stations for Speedene gasoline. Speedene sales were booming, thanks to a cost-cutting device the young proprietors had figured out. They bypassed the cost of trucking gasoline to service stations by building the stations beside railroad sidings and sold two or three cents a gallon under the going retail rate. Storer decided to buy some radio spots on WTAL in Toledo. The spots were effective, and Storer decided to use his wealth to buy the station. Storer Broadcasting was born, and the Toledo radio station became WSPD, symbolic of the gasoline brand.

The company was primarily in the broadcast radio business. In the 1950s as television broadcasting boomed, the company entered the television market starting WSPD-TV in Toledo and purchasing several television stations in other markets. The company focused primarily on the radio and television businesses through much of its history. However, it did venture into the cable television business in the early 1960's. In addition, it also purchased Northeast Airlines. George Storer was President of the company until his death. Due to his position as a director of CBS, he was able to obtain lucrative CBS network affiliations for Storer-owned television stations, such as WXEL and WJBK which had been DuMont affiliates. By 1961 Storer was the nation's sixth-largest television broadcaster—exceeded in size only by the three networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC), Metropolitan Broadcasting (later Metromedia) and Westinghouse. George's son, Peter Storer, became President in 1973.

The company purchased its first cable television system in 1963. During the 1970's Peter Storer and the Storer Board of Directors decided to focus the company on cable television. Storer sold Northeast Airlines and its radio assets. It reinvested the funds into cable television. Commencing in 1978, it embarked on an aggressive program of acquiring cable franchises. Unlike many cable operators, Storer preferred to acquire franchises and build its cable systems rather than acquire existing cable operations.

The company's name was changed to Storer Communications, Inc. in 1983. By 1984, Storer owned and operated seven television stations and held franchises to provide cable television service to over 500 communities in 18 states and employed approximately 4,800.

In 1984 the Storer television stations were sold to KKR. Shortly thereafter, WTVG (formerly WSPD-TV) was sold to a separate owner, eventually becoming an ABC owned-and-operated (O&O) station in 1994. The remaining former Storer television stations were then sold to Gillett Communications in 1987, and then sold to SCI, then to New World Communications in 1993. Fox Television Stations purchased the stations in 1997 except WSBK and KNSD. Most of the stations switched to Fox affiliation, resulting in CBS scrambling to find affiliates in Atlanta, Cleveland and Detroit, and eventually landing UHF stations in those cities. WSBK which remained independent and was sold to Viacom to eventually become a UPN affiliate. KNSD, which remained an NBC affiliate, was later sold directly to NBC to become an NBC O&O station.

Television stations owned

Current DMA# Market Station Years Owned Current Affiliation
4. Philadelphia WVUE 12 1957-58 (defunct, off the air)
(Currently occupied by PBS affiliate WHYY-TV)
5. Boston WSBK-TV 38 1966-84 UPN affiliate owned by CBS Corporation
(to return to independent in Sept. 2006)
9. Atlanta WAGA-TV 5 1949-84 Fox owned-and-operated (O&O)
11. Detroit WJBK 2 1948-84 Fox owned-and-operated (O&O)
16. Cleveland WJW-TV/WJKW 8 1954-84 Fox owned-and-operated (O&O)
23. Portland, OR KPTV 27
(now KPTV 12) 		1954-57 Fox affiliate owned by Meredith Corporation
26. San Diego KCST 39
(now KNSD) 		1974-84 NBC owned-and-operated (O&O)
33. Milwaukee WITI 6 1958-84 Fox owned-and-operated (O&O)
40. Birmingham/Anniston/Tuscaloosa, AL WBRC 6 1953-57 Fox owned-and-operated (O&O)
70. Toledo, OH WSPD-TV/WTVG 13 1948-84 ABC owned-and-operated (O&O)

Radio stations owned

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