Bonneville International
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Bonneville International stations by market | |
|---|---|
| Salt Lake City, Utah | St Louis, Missouri |
| Chicago, Illinois | Washington, D.C.
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| Phoenix, Arizona | Seattle, Washington |
| Cincinnati, Ohio | |
Bonneville International Corporation, managed by Deseret Management Corporation, is a broadcasting company wholly owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the LDS Church). Headquartered in the Triad Center Broadcast House in Salt Lake City, Utah, Bonneville's name alludes to Benjamin Bonneville and the prehistoric Lake Bonneville that once covered much of modern-day Utah, which was named after him.
Bonneville owns about 30 radio stations and one NBC affiliate television station. Additionally, the Bonneville Communications division provides broadcast distribution services and award-winning PSA production services to non-profit organizations, notably the LDS Church during its semi-annual General Conferences.
[edit] History
Bonneville International was formed with approval of the LDS First Presidency in 1964. Consolidating KSL (AM), KSL-TV, and other broadcast assets, the company purchased Seattle, Washington radio and TV stations that year including KIRO (AM). These stations were divested in 1997 and reacquired 10 years later.[1] The company has also owned stations in New York City, Dallas, Kansas City, and Los Angeles at one point.
In 1980 it formed Bonneville Satellite Corporation, primarily to broadcast LDS General Conferences using communications satellites.
Bonneville prides itself on "values-oriented programming," and community involvement which was advocated by the company's first president, Arch L. Madsen. 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 an FCC media cross-ownership rule, Bonneville was unable to purchase additional media outlets in Salt Lake City beyond its existing television and radio station (KSL-TV and KSL Radio). 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 market in exchange for WLUP "The Loop" in Chicago and cash.
On January 4, 2006, Bonneville and The Washington Post announced that the frequencies currently used by WTOP, 1500 kHz and 107.7 MHz, 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. At noon that day, WGMS and WTOP shifted frequencies.
WGMS itself would fall silent a little more than a year later, on January 22, 2007. In its place is 70's/80's 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 of 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.
The Washington Post Radio experiment ended in September of 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. The station's morning show will continue.
On February 27, 2008, Rush Limbaugh informed his radio audience that he once worked for Bonneville Communications after his stint with the Kansas City Royals.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Official site of Bonneville International
- "Bonneville International Corporation" — from the Encyclopedia of Mormonism
- "Bonneville International Corporation" — Utah History Encyclopedia
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