Lincoln Financial Media

Lincoln Financial Media was a subsidiary of Lincoln National Corporation that owned radio stations in the United States. The division was formed in 2006 following the company's acquisition of Jefferson-Pilot's television and radio operations, which were renamed Lincoln Financial Media.

Lincoln Financial Media
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryBroadcasting
FateAssets acquired by Raycom Media and Entercom
PredecessorJefferson-Pilot Communications
Successor
FoundedApril 2006 (2006-04)
DefunctJuly 17, 2015 (2015-07-17)
OwnerLincoln National Corporation

The group, at the time of its closure, owned 14 radio stations in Miami, Florida, San Diego, California, Denver, Colorado, and Atlanta, Georgia. It also owned WBT, WBT-FM, and WLNK (FM) in Charlotte, NC and WBTV, the CBS affiliate in Charlotte; WCSC-TV, the CBS affiliate in Charleston, South Carolina and WWBT, the NBC affiliate in Richmond, Virginia.

History

The media company began in 1945 as Jefferson Standard Broadcasting Company, Inc., which became Jefferson-Pilot Communications in 1968. The company was a media-centered division of the Jefferson Standard Insurance Company of Greensboro, North Carolina, which later merged with Pilot Life Insurance Company to form Jefferson-Pilot. Jefferson-Pilot owned WBT-AM-FM and WBTV, all of which are based in Charlotte, North Carolina. In 1962, the company conceived Jefferson Productions (later Jefferson Pilot Teleproductions, later Jefferson Pilot Sports), a production arm that produced television programs and commercials, but later chose to produce syndicated sports programming only by the 1980s. It was originally intended to produce promos and local television shows for WBTV, but had since grown to producing nationally syndicated talk shows and variety shows; and mainly commercials for major companies that aired nationwide.[1] For further information, see the section "Lincoln Financial Sports" at the end of this article.

In April 2006, the Jefferson-Pilot Corporation merged with the Lincoln National Corporation; taking the media and sports broadcasting division with it, Jefferson-Pilot Communications became Lincoln Financial Media.

In June 2007, the company publicly announced it would explore a sale of this division, and hired Merrill Lynch to assess its strategic options. On November 12, 2007, Raycom Media announced that it would acquire Lincoln Financial Media's three television stations, along with the Lincoln Financial Sports division (which was folded into Raycom Sports) for $583 million. The acquisition was completed in April 2008.[2] [3]

On December 8, 2014, Entercom announced its intent to acquire the remainder of Lincoln Financial Media for $110 million and working capital. To comply with ownership limits, Entercom was to divest one of its existing stations in Denver.[4] Later, Entercom announced it would swap four of its stations in Denver to Bonneville International in exchange for KSWD in Los Angeles. The merger was completed on July 17 and Bonneville and Entercom began operating their new clusters under time-brokerage agreements that same day.

Former stations

This list also contains stations that were owned by Lincoln Financial Media's predecessor Jefferson-Pilot Communications, prior to its merger in 2006.

Television

Note:

  • (**) – Indicates that it was built and signed on by Lincoln Financial Media's predecessor Jefferson-Pilot.
City of license/Market Station Channel
TV (RF)
Years owned Current ownership status
Charlotte, North Carolina WBTV ** 3 (23) 1949–2008 CBS affiliate owned by Gray Television
Charleston, South Carolina WCSC-TV 5 (19) 1994–2008 CBS affiliate owned by Gray Television
Florence, South Carolina WBTW ** 13 (13) 1954–1968 CBS affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Richmond, Virginia WWBT 12 (12) 1968–2008 NBC affiliate owned by Gray Television

Radio

AM Station FM Station
Market Station Current ownership status
San Diego KNSN 1240 Owned by Crawford Broadcasting
KBZT 94.9 Owned by Entercom
KIFM 98.1 KXSN, owned by Entercom
KSON 97.3 KWFN, owned by Entercom
KSOQ-FM 92.1 KYDQ, owned by Educational Media Foundation
Denver KRWZ 950 KKSE, owned by Kroenke Sports & Entertainment
KEPN 1600 Owned by Bonneville International
KKFN 104.3 Owned by Bonneville International
KYGO-FM 98.5 Owned by Bonneville International
KQKS 107.5 Owned by Entercom
Miami WAXY 790 Owned by Entercom
WAXY-FM 104.3 WSFS, owned by Entercom
WLYF 101.5 Owned by Entercom
WMXJ 102.7 Owned by Entercom
Atlanta WQXI 790 Owned by Entercom
WSTR 94.1 Owned by Entercom
Charlotte WBT 1110 Owned by Entercom
WBT-FM 99.3 Owned by Entercom
WLNK 107.9 Owned by Entercom
Greensboro WBIG 1470 WWBG, owned by TBLC Holdings
WBIG-FM 102.1 WJMH, owned by Entercom

Lincoln Financial Sports

LFS SEC sideline reporter Dave Baker

Lincoln Financial Sports, originally Jefferson-Pilot Teleproductions (later Jefferson Pilot Sports), produced and syndicated college sports events of the Southeastern Conference, and co-produced Atlantic Coast Conference sporting events with Raycom Sports. It also produced telecasts of pre-season games of the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League, and in the 1980s, syndicated coverage of the NASCAR Winston Cup races at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

On November 12, 2007, Lincoln Financial Group announced the sale of this division to Raycom Media. The group would later operate under the Raycom Sports banner as of January 1, 2008.[5]

References

  1. BT Memories-Jefferson Productions
  2. "Raycom Grabs Lincoln Financial Stations". Broadcasting Cable. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  3. "Raycom Media Completes Lincoln Financial Stations Acquisition". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  4. "Entercom swallows Lincoln Financial Media". Denver Post. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  5. "Lincoln Financial Group Announces Sale of Television, Sports, and Charlotte Radio Properties". Lincoln Financial Group. 2007-11-12. Archived from the original on 2007-12-15. Retrieved 2007-11-12.
Preceded by
Jefferson Pilot Sports
Syndication Rightsholder to Southeastern Conference football and men's basketball
2006-2007
Succeeded by
Raycom Sports
Preceded by
Jefferson Pilot Sports
Syndication Rightsholder to Atlantic Coast Conference football
2006-2007
Succeeded by
Raycom Sports
Preceded by
Raycom/Jefferson Pilot Sports
Syndication Rights Holder to the Atlantic Coast Conference men's basketball
2006-2007
(co-produced with Raycom Sports)
Succeeded by
Raycom Sports
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.