Bonneville International
Encyclopedia
| Bonneville International stations by market | |||
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| Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
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Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data... KPKX 98.7 The Peak is a commercial Adult Hits music radio station in Phoenix, Arizona, broadcasting on 98.7 FM.-Early Years:98.7 FM signed on in July 1960 as KTAR-FM, co-owned with KTAR and KTAR-TV . In the mid-1970's, the station became KBBC broadcasting Easy Listening music programming... (FM) KTAR-FM KTAR-FM is a radio station broadcasting a News/Talk format. Licensed to Glendale, Arizona, USA, the station serves the Phoenix area and is currently owned by Bonneville Holding Company... KTAR (AM) KTAR is the callsign for a radio station in Phoenix, Arizona. It airs programming from ESPN Radio, in addition to KTAR-acquired broadcast rights for local teams... KMVP KMVP is the callsign for a radio station in Phoenix, Arizona. KMVP is owned by Bonneville International Corporation.-History:The 860 kHz frequency was occupied by several radio stations in Phoenix. The first station signed on the air as early as 1953 with the call letters KIFN. KIFN was Phoenix's... (AM) |
Seattle, Washington
KIRO (AM) KIRO is a radio station based in Seattle, Washington on the shores of Lake Union with 2 towers on Maury Island, broadcasting on 710 kHz in the AM radio spectrum... KTTH KTTH is a conservative talk radio station, owned by Bonneville International, broadcasting at 770 kHz in Seattle, Washington.-Programming:... (AM) |
Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, California Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California... |
Bonneville International Corporation is a broadcasting
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
company wholly owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the LDS Church) through its for-profit arm, Deseret Management Corporation
Deseret Management Corporation
The Deseret Management Corporation is a for-profit management company of assets for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was established in 1966 by then church president David O...
. It began as a radio and TV network in the Triad Center
Triad Center
The Triad Center is a complex of office buildings in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. Originally planned to be a large development, containing several offices and residential buildings , the project was canceled after only two phases were completed...
Broadcast House in Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
, Bonneville's name alludes to Benjamin Bonneville
Benjamin Bonneville
Benjamin Louis Eulalie de Bonneville was a French-born officer in the United States Army, fur trapper, and explorer in the American West...
and the prehistoric Lake Bonneville
Lake Bonneville
Lake Bonneville was a prehistoric pluvial lake that covered much of North America's Great Basin region. Most of the territory it covered was in present-day Utah, though parts of the lake extended into present-day Idaho and Nevada. Formed about 32,000 years ago, it existed until about 14,500 years...
that once covered much of modern-day Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, which was named after him.
Bonneville owns about 10 radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
stations and one NBC affiliate television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
station, in its home market, and operates a second non-affiliated TV station, also in its home market. Additionally, the Bonneville Communications division provides broadcast distribution services and PSA production services to non-profit organization
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
s.
History
Bonneville International was formed with approval of the LDS First PresidencyFirst Presidency
In the Latter Day Saint movement, the First Presidency was the highest governing body in the Latter Day Saint church established by Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1832, and is the highest governing body of several modern Latter Day Saint denominations...
in 1964. It was formed to acquire KSL-AM-FM
KSFI
KSFI is a radio station operating at frequency 100.3 FM in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. The station has had only two owners. The original call letters were KSL-FM when the station began broadasting in 1947 as the sister station of KSL-AM...
-TV
KSL-TV
KSL-TV, virtual channel 5, is an NBC-affiliated television station located in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. KSL-TV is owned by Bonneville International Corporation, which is in turn owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
, which had previously been subsidiaries of the Deseret News. Soon after its formation, Bonneville purchased KIRO-AM
KIRO (AM)
KIRO is a radio station based in Seattle, Washington on the shores of Lake Union with 2 towers on Maury Island, broadcasting on 710 kHz in the AM radio spectrum...
-FM
KKWF
KKWF , known as "The New 100.7 The Wolf", is a Country music radio station based in Seattle, Washington. The Entercom outlet broadcasts at 100.7 MHz with an effective radiated power of 67 kW. Its transmitter is located in Seattle.-History:...
-TV
KIRO-TV
KIRO-TV, virtual channel 7, is the CBS affiliate television station in Seattle, Washington. It broadcasts on digital channel 39. The station's offices and broadcasting center are located near Seattle Center in Belltown, and its transmitter is located on Queen Anne Hill...
in Seattle. The LDS Church divested itself of these stations from 1995 to 1997, but reacquired KIRO-AM 10 years later. http://www.seattlepi.com/business/300350_radioswap19.html The company has also owned stations in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Dallas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
, Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, and Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
at one point.
In 1980 it formed Bonneville Communications Corporation, primarily to broadcast LDS General Conferences.
Bonneville prided itself on "values-oriented programming" and community involvement, in line with first president Arch L. Madsen's vision of the company's mission. According to Bonneville International's website, their values reflect an understanding that "families are the basic unit of society... and that strong families build strong communities."
Due to a Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) media cross-ownership rule, Bonneville was unable to purchase additional media outlets in Salt Lake City beyond its flagship cluster. In anticipation of a rule change, Bonneville purchased four additional Salt Lake radio stations in 2002. The FCC did not grant approval for this purchase until 2003, upon which the stations were acquired by Bonneville. The status of this deal is still uncertain—the FCC has only granted a waiver to Bonneville, and a recent court ruling has put the FCC cross-ownership rule changes into question.
On October 4, 2004, Bonneville International announced plans to buy three stations from Emmis Communications in the Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
market, in exchange for WLUP "The Loop" in Chicago and cash.
On January 4, 2006, Bonneville and The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
announced that the frequencies currently used by WTOP, 1500 kHz AM and 107.7 MHz FM, would be reassigned to a new station, "Washington Post Radio." WTOP would move to 103.5 MHz, the frequencies currently used by classical music station WGMS, which in turn would move to 104.1 and 103.9 MHz, the frequencies used by WWZZ, which would be closed.
WGMS itself would fall silent a little more than a year later, on January 22, 2007. In its place is 1970s-1980s-adult-hits-station WXGG ("George 104"). Simultaneously, public radio station WETA-FM dropped its news/talk format in order to revive its previous classical format, via a partnership with Bonneville. WETA would also receive WGMS' entire music library, hired WGMS' last program director, and also retained the usage of the WGMS call sign. George 104 would last less than four months, when in April 2007, it was announced that the 104.1 frequency would be LMA'd to Radio One. On April 7, 2007 the frequency would flip to a Gospel and Inspiration format, known as Praise 104.1
WPRS-FM
WPRS-FM is an Urban Gospel formatted radio station in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. The station broadcasts from Waldorf, Maryland, at 104.1 MHz....
.
The Washington Post Radio experiment ended in September 2007, as the three stations
(including the powerful AM 1500 signal) became WWWT, or "3WT". Hosts include
syndicated hosts from the Right (Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, Neal Boortz) and Left
(Stephanie Miller) as well as Nationals baseball
Washington Nationals
The Washington Nationals are a professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals are a member of the Eastern Division of the National League of Major League Baseball . The team moved into the newly built Nationals Park in 2008, after playing their first three seasons in RFK Stadium...
. The station's morning show will continue.
Rush Limbaugh
Rush Limbaugh
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III is an American radio talk show host, conservative political commentator, and an opinion leader in American conservatism. He hosts The Rush Limbaugh Show which is aired throughout the U.S. on Premiere Radio Networks and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United...
once worked for Bonneville Communications, after his stint with the Kansas City Royals
Kansas City Royals
The Kansas City Royals are a Major League Baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals are a member of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From 1973 to the present, the Royals have played in Kauffman Stadium...
.
CBS Radio
CBS Radio
CBS Radio, Inc., formerly known as Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, is one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States, third behind main rival Clear Channel Communications and Cumulus Media. CBS Radio owns around 130 radio stations across the country...
has announced that it would sell 50 radio stations in 12 markets to focus on major market stations. As of September 22, 2008, Bonneville is one of the seven candidates to make first-round bids.
On August 12, 2009; Citadel Broadcasting
Citadel Broadcasting
Citadel Broadcasting Corporation was a Las Vegas, Nevada-based broadcast holding company. Citadel owned 243 radio stations across the United States and was the third-largest radio station owner in the country...
has rumored that they're planning to sell the former Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
/ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's 23 stations to reduce its debt load, however several financial factors may put the deal at risk. While not all the stations can be sold off, Bonneville has expressed interest in 2 FM stations in Washington D.C. (WJZW and WRQX
WRQX
WRQX is an American commercial radio station licensed to serve the community of Washington, D.C.. The station broadcasts a hot adult contemporary music format to the Washington Metropolitan Area...
).
On January 19, 2011, it was announced that Bonneville will sell 17 radio stations in Cincinnati, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, and St. Louis to Hubbard Broadcasting for $505 million. The deal closed May 2, 2011.
External links
- Official site of Bonneville International
- "Bonneville International Corporation" — from the Encyclopedia of MormonismEncyclopedia of MormonismThe Encyclopedia of Mormonism is a semi-official encyclopedia for topics relevant to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
- "Bonneville International Corporation" — Utah History Encyclopedia