Storer Communications

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

1920s—1940s

In 1927, George B. Storer and his brother-in-law J. Harold Ryan were building service stations for Speedene brand gasoline in the Toledo, Ohio area. Speedene sales were booming, thanks to a cost-cutting device implemented by the partners. They bypassed the cost of trucking gasoline to service stations by building the stations beside railroad sidings and sold their product at two or three cents a gallon under the going retail rate by filling their tanks directly from railroad tank cars. Storer decided to buy some radio spots on WTOL in Toledo to advertise his gas stations. 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, "Speedy AM," symbolic of the gasoline brand.

1950s—1960s

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 1960s. In addition, it also purchased Northeast Airlines, a company sold to Delta Air Lines in 1972. George Storer was President of the company until his retirement in 1973; he remained Chairman of the company until his death in 1975. 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 the Group W division of Westinghouse. George's son, Peter Storer, became President in 1973.

The company purchased its first cable television system in 1963. It also for a brief period of time ventured into program sydnication as Storer Programs Inc., during which it was the U.S. distributor of the original 1963-65 run of The Littlest Hobo produced in Canada.

1970s—1980s

During the 1970s Peter Storer and the Storer Board of Directors decided to focus the company on cable television. Storer sold the radio assets and the airline. 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 1985. Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts took Storer Communications private in a hostile leveraged buyout.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts] & Co., also known as KKR, sold the television assets in 1987. WTVG (the former WSPD-TV) was sold to a local ownership group, eventually becoming an ABC owned-and-operated (O&O) station in 1995 (it had been a longtime NBC affiliate prior to its sale to ABC). 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, Detroit and Milwaukee, and eventually landing UHF stations in those cities. WSBK which remained independent and was sold to Viacom (which at one point owned the former WJBK-FM, WDRQ) to eventually become a UPN affiliate. KNSD, which remained an NBC affiliate, was later sold directly to NBC to become an NBC owned and operated station. The cable assets were sold to Comcast Corporation and TCI in 1988. Michael Tallent became President of Storer, succeeding Kenneth Bagwell, upon the consummation of this transaction. Storer Communications continued to be operated as a Cable Television company until the assets were split between Comcast and TCI in the mid 1990's. Mr. Tallent joined Comcast in 1991 and was succeeded by William Whelan, Storer's final President.

Television stations owned

Note: ** indicates a station built and signed on by Storer.

Radio stations owned