River City Broadcasting

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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. Through a series of acquisitions between 1989 and 1994, 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 stations that were owned by Continental Broadcasting, formerly Anchor Media, including KOVR, WLOS and WSYX.[1] 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.[2]

In May 1996, River City sold its stations to the Sinclair Broadcast Group for $1.2 billion.[3][4]

The TV stations owned by River City are listed in the table below. The Radio stations owned by River City are as follows:

St. Louis, MO

Buffalo, NY

New Orleans, LA

Memphis, TN

Nashville, TN

  • WJCE
  • WLAC
  • WLAC

Greenville, SC

Wilkes-Barre, PA

Albuquerque, NM

Los Angeles, CA

Television Stations formerly owned[]

Television stations[]

Stations are arranged alphabetically by state and by city of license.

City of license / Market Station Channel
TV (RF) 		Years owned Current ownership status
Sacramento - Stockton - Modesto KOVR 13 (25) 1994–1997 CBS owned-and-operated (O&O)
Bloomington - Indianapolis WTTV 4 (48) 1991–1997 CBS affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Kokomo, Indiana WTTK
(satellite of WTTV) 		29 (29) 1991–1997 CBS affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Des Moines - Ames KDSM-TV 17 (16) 1991–1997 Fox affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
St. Louis KDNL-TV 30 (31) 1989–1997 ABC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Columbus, Ohio WSYX 6 (48) 1994–1997 ABC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Asheville - Greenville - Spartanburg WLOS 13 (13) 1994–1997 Dual ABC/MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
WAXA ** 40 (14) 1994–1997 Dabl affiliate, WMYA-TV, owned by Cunningham Broadcasting
(Operated through a LMA by Sinclair Broadcast Group)
San Antonio KABB 29 (30) 1989–1997 Fox affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
  • 1 WAXA was a full-time satellite of WLOS under River City ownership.

See also[]

  • Sinclair Broadcast Group
  • WLOS

References[]

  1. ^ "Continental drifts to River City" (PDF). Broadcasting. 1994-05-16. Retrieved 2021-11-11.
  2. ^ "Changing partners in Sacramento". Broadcasting & Cable. 1994-08-29.
  3. ^ Jacobson, Gianna (1996-04-12). "Sinclair Buys Radio and TV Stations for $1.2 Billion". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-01-26.
  4. ^ ""River City Broadcasting Is Sold Baltimore Company Pays More Than $1 Billion for Barry Baker's Start-Up" by Denise Smith Amos Of The Post-Dispatch Jerry Berger Of The Post-Dispatch Contributed Information To This Story. - St Louis Post-Dispatch (MO), April 12, 1996".[dead link]
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