117-686: Tribune Media Company , also known as Tribune Company , was an American multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Chicago , Illinois . Through Tribune Broadcasting , Tribune Media was one of the largest television broadcasting companies, owning 39 television stations across the United States and operating three additional stations through local marketing agreements . It owned national basic cable channel/ superstation WGN America , regional cable news channel Chicagoland Television (CLTV) and Chicago radio station WGN . Investment interests include
234-418: A call sign (also known as a call name or call letters —and historically as a call signal —or abbreviated as a call ) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station . A call sign can be formally assigned by a government agency, informally adopted by individuals or organizations, or even cryptographically encoded to disguise a station's identity. The use of call signs as unique identifiers dates to
351-574: A general aviation flight would use the call sign November-niner-seven-eight-Charlie-Papa . However, in the United States a pilot of an aircraft would normally omit saying November , and instead use the name of the aircraft manufacturer or the specific model. At times, general aviation pilots might omit additional preceding numbers and use only the last three numbers and letters. This is especially true at uncontrolled fields (those without control towers) when reporting traffic pattern positions or at towered airports after establishing two-way communication with
468-429: A market inefficiency , which undervalues the true strength of these stocks. In her 1999 book No Logo , Naomi Klein provides several examples of mergers and acquisitions between media companies designed to create conglomerates to create synergy between them: A relatively new development, Internet conglomerates, such as Alphabet , Google's parent company belong to the modern media conglomerate group and play
585-496: A "broadcast management company" (later named The Other Company). On January 31, 2008, Tribune Company announced it would purchase real estate leased from TMCT, LLC, which included properties used by the Los Angeles Times , Newsday , Baltimore Sun and Hartford Courant . The company received an option to purchase the real estate for $ 175 million through the 2006 restructuring of TMCT, LLC. In addition, Tribune announced
702-643: A 12.5% stake in The WB Television Network in August 1995; the company had ten of its 16 stations affiliated with the network (including five that were signed as charter affiliates through The WB's initial 1993 affiliation deal with Tribune). Tribune invested $ 21 million in The WB in March 1997, which increased its equity interest in the network to 21.9%. In November 1994, Tribune Broadcasting formed
819-660: A 24-hour local cable news channel for the Chicago area. Online editions of Tribune's newspapers were developed starting in 1995, with the Chicago Tribune ' s digital edition launching in 1996. Also in 1996, Tribune (holding a 20% interest) created a joint venture with American Online (which held an 80% interest) called Digital City, Inc. to set up a series of Digital City websites to provide interactive local news and information services. By 1997, Tribune Publishing had only four daily newspapers remaining in its portfolio:
936-548: A Great Britain call sign prefix, 90 and MGY to commemorate the 90th anniversary of historic 1912 radio distress calls from MGY , the Marconi station aboard the famed White Star luxury liner RMS Titanic ). The late King Hussein of Jordan was issued a special amateur license number, JY1 , which would have been the shortest possible call sign issued by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. When identifying
1053-468: A call sign for broadcast stations; however, they are still required for broadcasters in many countries, including the United States. Mobile phone services do not use call signs on-air because the phones and their users are not licensed, instead the cell operator is the one holding the license. However, the U.S. still assigns a call sign to each mobile-phone spectrum license. In the United States, voluntary ships operating domestically are not required to have
1170-425: A call sign or license to operate VHF radios , radar or an EPIRB . Voluntary ships (mostly pleasure and recreational) are not required to have a radio. However, ships which are required to have radio equipment (most large commercial vessels) are issued a call sign. A directory of radio station call signs is called a callbook. Callbooks were originally bound books that resembled a telephone directory and contained
1287-479: A combined market share of 42%, meaning that the combined company would be required to divest stations in order to stay below the cap. However, there was only an 11% market overlap between Tribune and Sinclair's stations. On April 30, 2017, The Wall Street Journal reported that there were competing bids for Tribune from a partnership between 21st Century Fox and private equity firm Blackstone Group (under which Fox would contribute its existing station group into
SECTION 10
#17327717774071404-690: A convention that aircraft radio stations (and, by extension, the aircraft itself) receive call signs consisting of five letters. For example, all British civil aircraft have a five-letter registration beginning with the letter G, which can also serve for a call sign. Canadian aircraft have a call sign beginning with C–F or C–G, such as C–FABC. wing-in-ground-effect vehicles and hovercraft in Canada are eligible to receive C–Hxxx call signs, and ultralight aircraft receive C-Ixxx call signs. In days gone by, even American aircraft used five-letter call signs, such as KH–ABC, but they were replaced prior to World War II by
1521-486: A disorienting and demoralizing experience for executives at acquired companies—those who were not immediately laid off found themselves at the mercy of the conglomerate's executives in some other distant city. Most conglomerates' headquarters were located on the West Coast or East Coast , while many of their acquisitions were located in the country's interior. Many interior cities were devastated by repeatedly losing
1638-406: A few times a day, but this practice is becoming very rare. Argentinian broadcast call signs consist of two or three letters followed by multiple numbers, the second and third letters indicating region. In Brazil, radio and TV stations are identified by a ZY, a third letter and three numbers. ZYA and ZYB are allocated to television stations; ZYI , ZYJ , ZYL , and ZYK designate AM stations; ZYG
1755-549: A focus in Asia.) In Japan, a different model of conglomerate, the keiretsu , evolved. Whereas the Western model of conglomerate consists of a single corporation with multiple subsidiaries controlled by that corporation, the companies in a keiretsu are linked by interlocking shareholdings and a central role of a bank. Mitsui , Mitsubishi , Sumitomo are some of Japan's best-known keiretsu, reaching from automobile manufacturing to
1872-457: A geographical area, class of license, or identify a licensee as a visitor or temporary resident), and a 1-, 2-, or 3-letter suffix. In Australia, call signs are structured with a two letter prefix, a digit (which identifies geographical area), and a 2, 3 or 4 letter suffix. This suffix may be followed by a further suffix, or personal identifier, such as /P (portable), /M (mobile), /AM (aeronautical mobile) or /MM (maritime mobile). The number following
1989-638: A global presence and a diversified portfolio of products and services. Conglomerates can be formed by merger and acquisitions , spin-offs , or joint ventures . Conglomerates are common in many countries and sectors, such as media , banking , energy , mining , manufacturing , retail , defense , and transportation . This type of organization aims to achieve economies of scale , market power, risk diversification , and financial synergy. However, they also face challenges such as complexity, bureaucracy , agency problems, and regulation . The popularity of conglomerates has varied over time and across regions. In
2106-560: A hand press. The Tribune constructed its first building, a four-story structure at Dearborn and Madison Streets, in 1869. The building was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of October 1871, along with most of the city. The Tribune resumed printing two days later with an editorial declaring "Chicago Shall Rise Again." Joseph Medill , a native Ohioan who acquired an interest in the Tribune in 1855, gained full control of
2223-423: A high debt load related to the company's privatization and a sharp downturn in newspaper advertising revenue, Tribune filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection . Company plans originally called for it to emerge from bankruptcy by May 31, 2010, but the company would end up in protracted bankruptcy proceedings for another four years. With the company's overall debt totaling $ 13 billion, it was the largest bankruptcy in
2340-462: A joint venture with Blackstone), and Nexstar Media Group . The Fox/Blackstone deal was being proposed as a defensive measure, due to concerns by 21st Century Fox over the number of Fox-affiliated stations Sinclair would control if it acquired Tribune Media. However, The New York Times reported that Fox had not actually made a formal bid for Tribune Media. Conglomerate (company) A conglomerate ( / k ə ŋ ˈ ɡ l ɒ m ə r ə t / )
2457-454: A joint venture with Knight-Ridder, CareerBuilder , that same year. After the 2001 September 11 attacks , the media sector suffered a greater decrease in advertising revenue. This forced a 10% reduction in staff companywide and a $ 151.9 million restructuring charge. In 2002 and 2003, Tribune Broadcasting bought four additional television stations, increasing its total television holdings to 26 stations, some of which were acquired via trades of
SECTION 20
#17327717774072574-502: A major role within various industries, such as brand management . In most cases, Internet conglomerates consist of corporations that own several medium-sized online or hybrid online-offline projects. In many cases, newly joined corporations get higher returns on investment , access to business contacts, and better rates on loans from various banks. Similar to other industries many companies can be termed as conglomerates. Call letters In broadcasting and radio communications ,
2691-463: A one-letter company identifier (for instance, 'M' and two letters as a Marconi station ) was later added. By 1912, the need to quickly identify stations operated by multiple companies in multiple nations required an international standard ; an ITU prefix would be used to identify a country, and the rest of the call sign an individual station in that country. Merchant and naval vessels are assigned call signs by their national licensing authorities. In
2808-804: A partnership with several minority partners, including Quincy Jones , to form Qwest Broadcasting. Qwest operated as a separate company from Tribune (which owned stations in a few markets where Tribune had already owned stations, including WATL in Atlanta, which was operated alongside Tribune-owned WGNX ); Tribune entered into a new business sector when it formed Tribune Education in 1993. The sector grew and provided high profit margins. Through 1996, Tribune used $ 400 million to purchase several publishers of education material: Contemporary Books , Inc., The Wright Group, Everyday Learning Corporation, Jamestown Publishers, Inc., Educational Publishing Corporation, NTC Publishing Group and Janson Publications. In 1996, this group
2925-484: A similar brand, and the name of a broadcast station for legal purposes is normally its internationally recognised ITU call sign. Some common conventions are followed in each country. Broadcast stations in North America generally use call signs in the international series. In the United States of America, they are used for all FCC-licensed transmitters. The first letter generally is K for stations located west of
3042-639: A small slice of many companies in a fund rather than owning shares in a conglomerate. Another example of a successful conglomerate is Warren Buffett 's Berkshire Hathaway , a holding company which used surplus capital from its insurance subsidiaries to invest in businesses across a variety of industries. The end of the First World War caused a brief economic crisis in Weimar Germany , permitting entrepreneurs to buy businesses at rock-bottom prices. The most successful, Hugo Stinnes , established
3159-521: A station by voice, the call sign may be given by simply stating the letters and numbers, or using a phonetic alphabet . Some countries mandate the use of the phonetic alphabet for identification. In wartime, monitoring an adversary's communications can be a valuable form of intelligence. Consistent call signs can aid in this monitoring, so in wartime, military units often employ tactical call signs and sometimes change them at regular intervals. In peacetime, some military stations will use fixed call signs in
3276-418: A subsidiary, McCormick-Patterson. The company entered broadcasting in 1924 by leasing WDAP, one of Chicago's first radio stations. Tribune later changed the station's call letters to WGN , reflecting the Tribune ' s nickname, "World's Greatest Newspaper." WGN was purchased by the company in 1926 and went on to become prominent in the radio industry. In 1925, the company completed its new headquarters,
3393-402: Is a type of multi-industry company that consists of several different and unrelated business entities that operate in various industries. A conglomerate usually has a parent company that owns and controls many subsidiaries , which are legally independent but financially and strategically dependent on the parent company. Conglomerates are often large and multinational corporations that have
3510-472: Is currently China's largest civilian-run conglomerate by revenue. In South Korea , the chaebol is a type of conglomerate owned and operated by a family. A chaebol is also inheritable, as most of the current presidents of chaebols succeeded their fathers or grandfathers. Some of the largest and most well-known Korean chaebols are Samsung , LG , Hyundai Kia and SK . In India, family-owned enterprises became some of Asia's largest conglomerates, such as
3627-767: Is not issued to such stations due to their unlicensed nature. Also, wireless network routers or mobile devices and computers using Wi-Fi are unlicensed and do not have call signs. On some personal radio services, such as CB, it is considered a matter of etiquette to create one's own call sign, which is called a handle (or trail name). Some wireless networking protocols also allow SSIDs or MAC addresses to be set as identifiers, but with no guarantee that this label will remain unique. Many mobile telephony systems identify base transceiver stations by implementing cell ID and mobile stations (e.g., phones) by requiring them to authenticate using international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI). International regulations no longer require
Tribune Media - Misplaced Pages Continue
3744-683: Is used for shortwave stations; ZYC , ZYD , ZYM , and ZYU are given to FM stations. In Australia, broadcast call signs are optional, but are allocated by the Australian Communications and Media Authority and are unique for each broadcast station. Most European and Asian countries do not use call signs to identify broadcast stations, but Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines and Taiwan do have call sign systems. Spanish broadcasters used call signs consisting of E followed by two letters and up to three digits until
3861-571: The Aditya Birla Group , Tata Group , Emami , Kirloskar Group , Larsen & Toubro , Mahindra Group , Bajaj Group , ITC Limited , Essar Group , Reliance Industries , Adani Group and the Bharti Enterprises . In Brazil the most important conglomerates are J&F Investimentos , Odebrecht , Itaúsa , Camargo Corrêa , Votorantim Group , Andrade Gutierrez , and Queiroz Galvão. In New Zealand, Fletcher Challenge
3978-583: The Chicago Tribune ' s RedEye edition in 2003, followed by an investment in AM New York . That same year, Tribune pushed for the FCC to loosen its regulations barring cross-ownership of newspapers and broadcast outlets (television and/or radio) in a single market. Tribune would have to sell either a newspaper or television station in Los Angeles, New York City and Hartford while its combination of
4095-742: The Chicago Tribune , the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel , the Orlando Sentinel and the Daily Press . Tribune also set up its Tribune Ventures division to acquire stakes in newer media businesses. During the middle of that year, Tribune Ventures purchased interests in companies such as AOL (owning 4%), electronic payment specialist CheckFree Corporation (owning 5%), search engine company Excite , Inc. (owning 7%), Mercury Mail, Inc. (owning 13%), Open Market , Inc. (owning 6%), and Peapod LP (owning 13%). Also that year,
4212-544: The Dominion of Newfoundland government retain their original VO calls. In Mexico, AM radio stations use XE call signs (such as XEW-AM ), while the majority of FM radio and television stations use XH . Broadcast call signs are normally four or five alpha characters in length, plus the -FM , -TV , or -TDT suffix where applicable. In South America call signs have been a traditional way of identifying radio and TV stations. Some stations still broadcast their call signs
4329-654: The Food Network , in which the company had a 31% share. Prior to the August 2014 spin-off of the company's publishing division into Tribune Publishing , Tribune Media was the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher behind the Gannett Company , with ten daily newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune , Los Angeles Times , Orlando Sentinel , Sun-Sentinel and The Baltimore Sun , and several commuter tabloids . In 2007, investors bought
4446-695: The Meredith Corporation in exchange for KCPQ-TV in Seattle in March 1999. Later that year, the station purchased WEWB in Albany, New York and WBDC in Washington, D.C. Tribune Interactive, Inc. was incorporated to handle all the various websites for its publishing, television and radio, and newspaper properties. During the 1999 fiscal year, Tribune racked up $ 1.47 billion in profits on total revenues of $ 2.92 billion, in part from gains made on
4563-1566: The Mississippi River and W for eastern stations. Historic exceptions in the east include KYW in Philadelphia and KDKA in Pittsburgh, while western exceptions include WJAG in Norfolk, Nebraska , and WOAI in San Antonio. All new call signs have been four-character for some decades, though there are historical three-character call letters still in use today, such as KSL in Salt Lake City; KOA in Denver; WHO in Des Moines; WWJ and WJR in Detroit; WJW-TV in Cleveland ; WBT in Charlotte; WBZ in Boston; WSM in Nashville; WGR in Buffalo; KFI ; KNX and KHJ in Los Angeles; and WGN , WLS and WLS-TV in Chicago. American radio stations announce their call signs (except for rare cases in which would interfere with
4680-665: The New York Daily News saw multiple employee strikes. In 1980, the Daily News added an afternoon edition to go head-to-head with the New York Post ; this expansion failed, with the newspaper reverting to once-daily editions with the end of the afternoon edition in 1981. Also that year, the Independent Network News , an evening newscast intended for independent stations, was launched as
4797-658: The Orlando Sentinel and Time Warner Cable joined together to create the Orlando-based local cable news channel, Central Florida News 13 . Tribune also purchased a 31% stake in the Food Network . The company began the 1990s with six television stations, but changes to federal radio and television ownership regulations allowed Tribune to expand its television station holdings over the next decade. Tribune Broadcasting purchased ten additional stations by 1997, six of them acquired through that year's purchase of Renaissance Broadcasting for $ 1.1 billion in cash. Tribune purchased
Tribune Media - Misplaced Pages Continue
4914-675: The Sun-Sentinel and WBZL-TV in Miami / Fort Lauderdale, Florida was given a temporary waiver. The FCC granted waivers for the other newspaper-television combinations in June 2003. In 2006, Tribune acquired the minority equity interest in AM New York , giving it full ownership of the newspaper. The company sold both Newsday and AM New York to Cablevision Systems Corporation in 2008. Tribune's partnership in The WB ended in 2006, when
5031-579: The Tribune Tower . That same year, the company decided to fund the future Joseph Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University . Liberty magazine eventually exceeded Collier's circulation, but lacked sufficient advertising and was sold in 1931. The Tribune's European edition was also cut. However, Tribune launched the Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate content syndication service in 1933. With
5148-652: The United States , conglomerates became popular in the 1960s as a form of economic bubble driven by low interest rates and leveraged buyouts. However, many of them collapsed or were broken up in the 1980s due to poor performance, accounting scandals, and antitrust regulation. In contrast, conglomerates have remained prevalent in Asia, especially in China , Japan , South Korea , and India . In mainland China , many state-affiliated enterprises have gone through high value mergers and acquisitions , resulting in some of
5265-516: The highest value business transactions of all time. These conglomerates have strong ties with the government and preferential policies and access to capital. During the 1960s, the United States was caught up in a "conglomerate fad " which turned out to be a form of an economic bubble . Due to a combination of low interest rates and a repeating bear-bull market , conglomerates were able to buy smaller companies in leveraged buyouts (sometimes at temporarily deflated values). Famous examples from
5382-515: The " UHF discount " (a policy which makes UHF stations only count half of their total audience towards the FCC's 39% market share cap), which had been removed by Tom Wheeler during the final months of the Obama administration . The stocks of both companies rose in value in the wake of these rumors. As was expected, the FCC reinstated the UHF discount; under adjusted calculations, the two companies only had
5499-566: The "most viewed" category on the South Florida Sun-Sentinel ' s website. Google News index's next pass found the link as new news. Income Security Advisors found the Google result to be new news, which was passed along to Bloomberg News where it became a headline (Tribune, which owns both papers, noted that one click on a story in non-peak hours could flag an article as "most viewed"). On December 8, 2008, faced with
5616-440: The 1960s include Gulf and Western Industries , Ling-Temco-Vought , ITT Corporation , Litton Industries , Textron , and Teledyne . The trick was to look for acquisition targets with solid earnings and much lower price–earnings ratios than the acquirer. The conglomerate would make a tender offer to the target's shareholders at a princely premium to the target's current stock price. Upon obtaining shareholder approval,
5733-518: The 1960s when flight radio officers (FRO) were no longer required on international flights. The Russian Federation kept FROs for the Moscow-Havana run until around 2000. Currently, all signs in aviation are derived from several different policies, depending upon the type of flight operation and whether or not the caller is in an aircraft or at a ground facility. In most countries, unscheduled general aviation flights identify themselves using
5850-627: The 1980s, General Electric also moved into financing and financial services , which in 2005 accounted for about 45% of the company's net earnings. GE formerly owned a minority interest in NBCUniversal , which owns the NBC television network and several other cable networks . United Technologies was also a successful conglomerate until it was dismantled in the late 2010s. With the spread of mutual funds (especially index funds since 1976), investors could more easily obtain diversification by owning
5967-709: The Sentinel-Star Company, owners of the Orlando Sentinel , in 1965. Also in 1963, the company purchased part of the defunct New York Mirror . The company increased its broadcast holdings with the acquisition of radio station WQCD-FM in New York City in 1964 and independent television station KWGN-TV in Denver in 1965. In 1967, the company began printing a tabloid serving suburban areas of Chicago, The Suburban Trib . The corporation
SECTION 50
#17327717774076084-521: The Tribune Company and McClatchy. The company stopped publishing the tabloid Chicago Today in 1974; the Tribune also began publishing all-day editions. An approval of changes to the Tribune bylaws in 1974 triggered a lawsuit by shareholders who saw this as a move towards taking the company public. The lawsuit by Josephine Albright – Joseph Patterson's daughter – and her son, Joseph Albright,
6201-408: The Tribune Company. The split came in the footsteps of similar spin-outs by News Corporation and Time Warner , which sought to improve the profitability of their properties by separating them from the struggling print industry. On November 20, 2013, Tribune announced it would cut 700 jobs in its newspaper operations, citing falling advertising revenue. The split was finalized on August 4, 2014, with
6318-603: The United States, some of the examples are The Walt Disney Company , Warner Bros. Discovery and The Trump Organization (see below). In Canada, one of the examples is Hudson's Bay Company . Another such conglomerate is J.D. Irving, Limited , which controls a large portion of the economic activities as well as media in the Province of New Brunswick . Some cite the decreased cost of conglomerate stock (a phenomenon known as conglomerate discount ) as evidential of these disadvantages, while other traders believe this tendency to be
6435-754: The amateur radio service as a citizen of their country has been assigned there. The first amateur radio call sign assigned to the International Space Station was NA1SS by the United States. OR4ISS (Belgium), DP0ISS (Germany), and RS0ISS (Russia) are examples of others, but are not all-inclusive of others also issued. Broadcasters are allocated call signs in many countries. While broadcast radio stations will often brand themselves with plain-text names, identities such as " Cool FM ", " Rock 105" or "the ABC network" are not globally unique. Another station in another city or country may (and often will) have
6552-539: The broadcast of very long works of classical or opera music) at or near the top of each hour, as well as sign-on and sign-off for stations that do not broadcast 24 hours. Beginning in the early 2000s, digital subchannels were assigned a -DT# suffix, where # is the subchannel (starting with the number 2). In Canada, the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation uses the prefix CB ; privately owned commercial broadcast stations use primarily CF and CH through CK prefixes; and four stations licensed to St. John's by
6669-551: The call sign corresponding to the aircraft's registration number (also called N-number in the U.S., or tail number ). In this case, the call sign is spoken using the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) phonetic alphabet . Aircraft registration numbers internationally follow the pattern of a country prefix, followed by a unique identifier made up of letters and numbers. For example, an aircraft registered as N978CP conducting
6786-1074: The case of states such as Liberia or Panama , which are flags of convenience for ship registration, call signs for larger vessels consist of the national prefix plus three letters (for example, 3LXY, and sometimes followed by a number, e.g. 3LXY2). United States merchant vessels are given call signs beginning with the letters "W" or "K" while US naval ships are assigned call signs beginning with "N". Originally, both ships and broadcast stations were assigned call signs in this series consisting of three or four letters. Ships equipped with Morse code radiotelegraphy, or life boat radio sets, aviation ground stations, broadcast stations were given four-letter call signs. Maritime coast stations on high frequency (both radiotelegraphy and radiotelephony) were assigned three-letter call signs. As demand for both marine radio and broadcast call signs grew, gradually American-flagged vessels with radiotelephony only were given longer call signs with mixed letters and numbers. Leisure craft with VHF radios may not be assigned call signs, in which case
6903-470: The company began sharing stories among 25 subscribers via the newly formed news service , the Knight News Wire. By 1990, this service was known as KRT (Knight-Ridder/Tribune) and provided graphics, photo and news content to its member newspapers. When The McClatchy Company purchased Knight-Ridder Inc. in 2006, KRT became MCT (McClatchy-Tribune Information Services), which was jointly owned by
7020-557: The company's radio stations; this left its one-time radio flagship WGN (AM) in Chicago as the company's sole remaining radio station. Tribune Publishing purchased the monthly lifestyle publication Chicago from Primedia , Inc. in August 2002. Hoy , a Spanish language newspaper owned by the company, expanded with the launch of local editions in Chicago (in September 2003) and Los Angeles (in March 2004). Tribune also launched daily newspapers targeting younger urban commuters, including
7137-540: The company's second newspaper, the New York News in 1919. Tribune's ownership of the New York City tabloid was considered "interlocking" due to an agreement between McCormick and Patterson. The paper launched a European edition during World War I . To compete with the Saturday Evening Post and Collier's in 1924, the Tribune Company launched a weekly national magazine, Liberty , run by
SECTION 60
#17327717774077254-598: The company's second syndicated television program, originating from WPIX . The New York Daily News was put up for sale in 1981, but a proposed deal fell through by 1982. In August of that year, Tribune purchased the Chicago Cubs Major League Baseball team from William Wrigley III . In 1981, all of Tribune's television stations, which were previously under the WGN Continental Broadcasting unit, were placed under
7371-510: The company's senior debt holders, assumed control of Tribune's properties upon the company's exit from bankruptcy on December 31, 2012. Coincident with emergence from bankruptcy, company stock began trading as an over-the-counter security under the symbol TRBAA. In December 2014, over-the-counter trading ended and the company's stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TRCO. On February 26, 2013, it
7488-499: The company's subsidiary Tribune Broadcasting Company . The following year, Tribune formed the Tribune Entertainment Company as a production subsidiary to produce the company's existing syndicated programs including the U.S. Farm Report , as well as newer shows. In 1983, The Suburban Trib was replaced by zone editions of the Chicago Tribune . That October, the Tribune Company became a public firm, with
7605-738: The company, taking on substantial debt. The subsequent 2008 bankruptcy of Tribune Company was the largest bankruptcy in the history of the American media industry. In December 2012 the Tribune Co. emerged from bankruptcy. Tribune announced its sale to Hunt Valley, Maryland -based Sinclair Broadcast Group on May 8, 2017, but on August 9, 2018, Tribune cancelled the sale and sued Sinclair for breach of contract. On December 3, 2018, Nexstar Media Group announced that it would merge with Tribune Media for $ 4.1 billion. Within Nexstar, Tribune Media remains
7722-455: The conglomerate usually settled the transaction in something other than cash, like debentures , bonds , warrants or convertible debentures (issuing the latter two would effectively dilute its shareholders down the road, but many shareholders at the time were not thinking that far ahead). The conglomerate would then add the target's earnings to its earnings, thereby increasing the conglomerate's overall earnings per share . In finance jargon,
7839-517: The country/territory identifier is, instead, appended to the call sign; e.g., W1AW/VE4, or VE3XYZ/W1. Special call signs are issued in the amateur radio service either for special purposes, VIPs, or for temporary use to commemorate special events. Examples include VO1S ( VO1 as a Dominion of Newfoundland call sign prefix, S to commemorate Marconi 's first trans-Atlantic message, a single-character Morse code S sent from Cornwall , England to Signal Hill, St. John's in 1901) and GB90MGY ( GB as
7956-515: The current American system of civilian aircraft call signs (see below). One exception to the parallelism between registration and call sign is ultralight airplanes in France, who are not obliged to carry a radio and indeed often don't. Radio call signs used for communication in crewed spaceflight are not formalized or regulated to the same degree as for aircraft. The three nations currently launching crewed space missions use different methods to identify
8073-629: The death of Joe Patterson's sister and owner of the Washington Times-Herald , Eleanor (Cissy) Patterson, in 1948, the Tribune Company purchased the paper and operated it until 1954, when the Times-Herald was absorbed by The Washington Post . Expecting a printer's strike in November 1948, the Tribune printed their paper early, mistakenly proclaiming " Dewey Defeats Truman " in the 1948 presidential election . Tribune entered
8190-582: The decrease in its stock price since the Tribune Publishing spin-off and a $ 385 million revenue write-down for the 2015 fiscal year, partly due to original scripted programming expenditures for WGN America since it converted the cable network from a superstation in 2014. In 2016, Tribune Media sold off real estate properties to net $ 409 million while authorizing $ 400 million in share repurchasing. In December 2016, Tribune Media sold Gracenote to Nielsen Holdings for $ 560 million; Tribune planned to use
8307-743: The designated call sign, so F13C would be the Charlie fire team . Unused suffixes can be used for other call signs that do not fall into the standard call sign matrix, for example the unused 33A call sign is used to refer to the company sergeant major . No call signs are issued to transmitters of the long-range navigation systems ( Decca , Alpha , Omega ), or transmitters on frequencies below 10 kHz , because frequencies below 10 kHz are not subject to international regulations. In addition, in some countries lawful unlicensed low-power personal and broadcast radio signals ( Citizen's Band (CB), Part 15 or ISM bands ) are permitted; an international call sign
8424-467: The end came in January 1968, when Litton shocked Wall Street by announcing a quarterly profit of only 21 cents per share, versus 63 cents for the previous year's quarter. This was "just a decline in earnings of about 19 percent", not an actual loss or a corporate scandal, and "yet the stock was crushed, plummeting from $ 90 to $ 53". It would take two more years before it was clear that the conglomerate fad
8541-711: The examples are Adamjee Group , Dawood Hercules , House of Habib , Lakson Group and Nishat Group . In the Philippines , the largest conglomerate of the country is the Ayala Corporation which focuses on malls , bank , real estate development , and telecommunications . The other big conglomerates in the Philippines included JG Summit Holdings , Lopez Holdings Corporation , ABS-CBN Corporation , GMA Network, Inc. , MediaQuest Holdings , TV5 Network, Inc. , SM Investments Corporation , Metro Pacific Investments Corporation , and San Miguel Corporation . In
8658-563: The first two digits indicate the nominal length of the boat in feet. For example, Coast Guard 47021 refers to the 21st in the series of 47-foot motor lifeboats. The call sign might be abbreviated to the final two or three numbers during operations, for example: Coast Guard zero two one . Originally aviation mobile stations (aircraft) equipped with radiotelegraphy were assigned five-letter call signs (e.g. KHAAQ). Land stations in aviation were assigned four-letter call signs (e.g. WEAL – Eastern Air Lines, NYC.) These call signs were phased out in
8775-434: The ground and space radio stations; the United States uses either the names given to the space vehicles, or else the project name and mission number. Russia traditionally assigns code names as call signs to individual cosmonauts , more in the manner of aviator call signs , rather than to the spacecraft. The only continuity in call signs for spacecraft have been the issuance of "ISS"-suffixed call signs by various countries in
8892-719: The headquarters of corporations to mergers, in which independent ventures were reduced to subsidiaries of conglomerates based in New York or Los Angeles. Pittsburgh, for example, lost about a dozen. The terror instilled by the mere prospect of such harsh consequences for executives and their home cities meant that fending off takeovers, real or imagined, was a constant distraction for executives at all corporations seen as choice acquisition targets during this era. The chain reaction of rapid growth through acquisitions could not last forever. When interest rates rose to offset rising inflation, conglomerate profits began to fall. The beginning of
9009-629: The history of the American media industry. On October 27, 2009, Thomas S. Ricketts purchased a majority ownership (95%) of the Chicago Cubs. The sale also included Wrigley Field and a 25% ownership stake in Comcast SportsNet Chicago , as part of a deal designed to help Tribune restructure. In October 2010, Randy Michaels , who was appointed CEO after Zell's purchase of the company, was removed and replaced by an executive council. The New York Times had reported earlier in
9126-405: The intent to take the company private. The deal was approved by 97% of the company's shareholders on August 21, 2007. Privatization of the Tribune Company occurred on December 20, 2007 with termination of trading in Tribune stock at the close of the trading day. On December 21, 2007, Tribune and Oak Hill Capital Partners -controlled Local TV, LLC announced plans to collaborate in the formation of
9243-509: The international series. The United States Army uses fixed station call signs which begin with W , such as WAR, used by U.S. Army Headquarters. Fixed call signs for the United States Air Force stations begin with A , such as AIR, used by USAF Headquarters. The United States Navy , United States Marine Corps , and United States Coast Guard use a mixture of tactical call signs and international call signs beginning with
9360-465: The jurisdiction of a foreign government, an identifying station pre-pends the call sign with the country prefix and number of the country/territory from which the operation is occurring. For example, W4/G3ABC would denote a licensed amateur from the United Kingdom who is operating in the fourth district of the United States. There are exceptions; in the case of U.S./Canadian reciprocal operations,
9477-480: The landline railroad telegraph system. Because there was only one telegraph line linking all railroad stations , there needed to be a way to address each one when sending a telegram . In order to save time, two-letter identifiers were adopted for this purpose. This pattern continued in radiotelegraph operation; radio companies initially assigned two-letter identifiers to coastal stations and stations on board ships at sea. These were not globally unique, so
9594-427: The late 1970s. Portugal had a similar system, their callsigns beginning with C ; these also ceased to be used in the 1970s. Britain has no call signs in the American sense, but allows broadcast stations to choose their own trade mark call sign up to six words in length. Amateur radio call signs are in the international series and normally consist of a one or two character prefix, a digit (which may be used to denote
9711-464: The letter N . In the British military , tactical voice communications use a system of call signs of the form letter-digit-digit . Within a standard infantry battalion, these characters represent companies, platoons and sections respectively, so that 3 Section, 1 Platoon of F Company might be F13. In addition, a suffix following the initial call sign can denote a specific individual or grouping within
9828-448: The license holder for all of the former Tribune stations retained directly by Nexstar after the Nexstar acquisition. The largest broadcast merger in U.S. history was approved in 2019. The Tribune Company was founded on June 10, 1847 when the eponymous Chicago Daily Tribune published its first edition in a one-room plant located at LaSalle and Lake Streets in downtown Chicago. The original press run consisted of 400 copies printed on
9945-411: The month about his "outlandish, often sexual behavior" that he also exercised in his previous job at Clear Channel Communications . On July 13, 2012, the Tribune Company received approval of a reorganization plan to allow the company to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a Delaware bankruptcy court . Oaktree Capital Management , JPMorgan Chase and Angelo, Gordon & Co. , which were
10062-503: The most powerful private economic conglomerate in 1920s Europe – Stinnes Enterprises – which embraced sectors as diverse as manufacturing, mining, shipbuilding, hotels, newspapers, and other enterprises. The best-known British conglomerate was Hanson plc . It followed a rather different timescale than the U.S. examples mentioned above, as it was founded in 1964 and ceased to be a conglomerate when it split itself into four separate listed companies between 1995 and 1997. In Hong Kong, some of
10179-430: The name and addressees of licensed radio stations in a given jurisdiction (country). Modern Electrics published the first callbook in the United States in 1909. Today, the primary purpose of a callbook is to allow amateur radio operators to send a confirmation post card, called a QSL card to an operator with whom they have communicated via radio. Callbooks have evolved to include on-line databases that are accessible via
10296-484: The name of the vessel is used instead. Ships in the US still wishing to have a radio license are under FCC class SA: "Ship recreational or voluntarily equipped." Those calls follow the land mobile format of the initial letter K or W followed by one or two letters followed by three or four numbers (such as KX0983 or WXX0029). U.S. Coast Guard small boats have a number that is shown on both bows (i.e. port and starboard) in which
10413-504: The national advertising sales organization of Tribune Publishing , was established in 2000 to take advantage of the company's expanded scale and scope. By 2001, revenues had grown to $ 5.25 billion. However, Tribune needed to pay down some of the debt that it accrued through the Times Mirror purchase; as a result, Tribune moved to sell various non-newspaper holdings operated by Times Mirror. Flight information provider Jeppesen Sanderson
10530-431: The network was shut down – along with CBS Corporation -owned UPN – to create The CW Television Network , which was a joint venture between CBS and Warner Bros . and affiliated with several Tribune-owned stations; Tribune did not maintain an ownership interest in the network. On April 2, 2007, Chicago-based investor Sam Zell announced plans to buy out the Tribune Company for $ 34.00 a share, totalling $ 8.2 billion, with
10647-652: The new businesses they had recently purchased, and by the mid-1970s most conglomerates had been reduced to shells. The conglomerate fad was subsequently replaced by newer ideas like focusing on a company's core competency and unlocking shareholder value (which often translate into spin-offs ). In other cases, conglomerates are formed for genuine interests of diversification rather than manipulation of paper return on investment. Companies with this orientation would only make acquisitions or start new branches in other sectors when they believed this would increase profitability or stability by sharing risks. Flush with cash during
10764-559: The newspaper in 1874 and ran it until his death in 1899. Medill's two grandsons, cousins Robert R. McCormick and Joseph Medill Patterson , assumed leadership in 1911. That same year, the Chicago Tribune ' s first newsprint mill opened in Thorold , Ontario , Canada . The mill marked the beginnings of the Canadian newsprint producer later known as QUNO, in which Tribune held an investment interest until 1995. Patterson established
10881-610: The newspaper industry, effectively doubling the size of Tribune's newspaper holdings. The Times Mirror merger added seven daily newspapers to Tribune's existing publishing properties, including the Los Angeles Times , the Long Island -based Newsday , The Baltimore Sun and the Hartford Courant . Through the deal, Tribune became the only media company that owned both newspapers and television stations in
10998-400: The prefix is normally a single number (0 to 9). Some prefixes, such as Djibouti's (J2), consist of a letter followed by a number. Hence, in the hypothetical Djibouti call sign, J29DBA, the prefix is J2 , the number is 9 , and the suffix is DBA . Others may start with a number followed by a letter, for example, Jamaican call signs begin with 6Y. When operating with reciprocal agreements under
11115-714: The production of electronics such as televisions. While not a keiretsu, Sony is an example of a modern Japanese conglomerate with operations in consumer electronics , video games , the music industry , television and film production and distribution , financial services , and telecommunications . In China, many of the country's conglomerates are state-owned enterprises , but there is a substantial number of private conglomerates. Notable conglomerates include BYD , CIMC , China Merchants Bank , Huawei , JXD , Meizu , Ping An Insurance , TCL , Tencent , TP-Link , ZTE , Legend Holdings , Dalian Wanda Group , China Poly Group , Beijing Enterprises , and Fosun International . Fosun
11232-438: The publishing arm being spun out as Tribune Publishing , and the remainder of the company renamed Tribune Media . On February 29, 2016, Tribune Media announced that it would review various "strategic alternatives" to increase the company's value to shareholders, which include a possible sale of the entire company and/or select assets, or the formation of programming alliances or strategic partnerships with other companies, due to
11349-484: The purchase of KTLA, Tribune became the fourth largest television station owner in the United States, behind the three major broadcast networks . The company acquired Newport News, Virginia newspaper, the Daily Press in 1986, but sold off the newspaper's co-owned cable television operations. To counteract a possible hostile corporate takeover in 1987, the Tribune Company developed a plan that allowed shareholders
11466-538: The relaunch of the production and distribution division as Tribune Studios (not to be confused with the former name of Los Angeles studio facility Sunset Bronson Studios ). On July 10, 2013, Tribune announced that it would split into two companies, spinning off the newspapers that were part of its publishing division into a separate company. Its broadcasting, digital media and other assets (including Tribune Media Services , which among others, provides news and features content for Tribune's newspapers) would remain with
11583-511: The right to purchase additional preferred shares from a new series of stock in the event that a buyer acquired 10% of the company's common stock or a tender offer for the company. Shareholders also ratified a two-for-one stock split. Tribune Entertainment experienced success in 1987 with the launch of the syndicated daytime talk show Geraldo . In 1988, Tribune purchased five weekly papers based in Santa Clara County, California . In
11700-670: The sale of Tribune Studios and related real estate in Los Angeles to private equity firm Hudson Capital, LLC, for $ 125 million. The parties also agreed to a five-year lease allowing its television station in the city, KTLA, to continue operating at the location through 2012. On April 28, 2008, Tribune completed an acquisition of real estate from TMCT Partnership. On July 29, 2008, Cablevision Systems Corporation completed its purchase of Newsday from Tribune. On September 8, 2008, United Airlines lost (and almost regained) $ 1 billion in market value when an archived Chicago Tribune article from 2002 about United filing for bankruptcy appeared in
11817-584: The sale of 7.7 million shares at $ 26.75 a share. In 1985, Tribune Broadcasting acquired Los Angeles independent station KTLA from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts for a record $ 510 million. Because of the Federal Communications Commission 's media cross-ownership regulations, which prohibit the ownership of a television station and newspaper in the same market, Tribune was forced to sell the Los Angeles Daily News . With
11934-550: The sale of some of its internet investments. In February 2000, Tribune acquired the remaining 67% interest in Qwest Broadcasting for $ 107 million, effectively adding two more stations to its roster, increasing its reach 27% of the country. In June 2000, Tribune acquired the Los Angeles–based Times Mirror Company in a US$ 8.3 billion merger transaction, the largest acquisition in the history of
12051-431: The sale to pay down a debt of $ 3.5 billion. Cash on hand was expected to pay out $ 500 million in dividends in the first quarter of 2017. In January 2017, Tribune Media announced that Peter Liguori would step down as President and CEO in March. On April 20, 2017, Bloomberg reported that Sinclair Broadcast Group was considering acquiring Tribune Media, contingent on plans by the FCC's new chairman, Ajit Pai , to reinstate
12168-703: The television industry then in its infancy, in 1948, with the establishment of WGN-TV in Chicago in April and WPIX in New York City in June of that year. In 1956, the Tribune Company purchased the Chicago American from William Randolph Hearst . In the 1960s, the company entered the booming Florida market, acquiring the Fort Lauderdale -based Gore Newspapers Company, owner of the Pompano -based Sun-Sentinel and Fort Lauderdale News in 1963 and
12285-400: The three largest media markets of New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago , as a result of cross-ownership waivers that were approved by the FCC. Among other advantages from the merger, including various economies of scale, Tribune's newspapers could now effectively compete for national advertising, as it has grown to become the third largest newspaper group in the country. Tribune Media Net,
12402-513: The tower controller. For example, Skyhawk eight-Charlie-Papa, left base . In commercial aviation, the callsign is usually the ICAO Flight number . For example, Delta Airlines Flight 744 would have the flight number DL744 and the callsign would be Delta 744 . In most countries, the aircraft call sign or "tail number"/"tail letters" (also known as registration marks) are linked to the international radio call sign allocation table and follow
12519-406: The transaction was " accretive to earnings." The relatively lax accounting standards of the time meant that accountants were often able to get away with creative mathematics in calculating the conglomerate's post-acquisition consolidated earnings numbers. In turn, the price of the conglomerate's stock would go up, thereby re-establishing its previous price-earnings ratio, and then it could repeat
12636-541: The wake of a dispute with some of its labor unions, Tribune sold the Daily News to British businessman Robert Maxwell in 1991. With changes in the media industry due to greater public access to the internet in the 1990s, Tribune Publishing began to sell off some of its newspaper properties. Tribune Broadcasting steadily acquired additional stations during the decade, while Tribune itself launched two new divisions, Tribune Ventures and Tribune Education. In 1993, Tribune Broadcasting launched Chicagoland Television (CLTV),
12753-425: The well-known conglomerates include Jardine Matheson (AD1824), Swire Group (AD1816), (British companies, one Scottish one English; companies that have a history of over 150 years and have business interests that span across four continents with a focus in Asia.) C K Hutchison Whampoa (now CK Hutchison Holdings ), Sino Group , (both Asian-owned companies specialize business such as real estate and hospitality with
12870-668: The whole process with a new target. In plain English, conglomerates were using rapid acquisitions to create the illusion of rapid growth. In 1968, the peak year of the conglomerate fad, U.S. corporations completed a record number of mergers: approximately 4,500. In that year, at least 26 of the country's 500 largest corporations were acquired, of which 12 had assets above $ 250 million. All this complex company reorganization had very real consequences for people who worked for companies that were either acquired by conglomerates or were seen as likely to be acquired by them. Acquisitions were
12987-578: Was dismissed in 1979. The Tribune Company entered first-run television syndication in 1975 with the debut of the U.S. Farm Report . The Times-Advocate in Escondido, California was purchased by the company in 1977. In October 1978, United Video Satellite Group uplinked WGN-TV's signal to satellite , becoming a national " superstation ", joining the ranks of WTCG (later WTBS, now WPCH-TV ) in Atlanta and WWOR-TV in New York City. During 1978,
13104-462: Was formed in 1981 from the merger of Fletcher Holdings , Challenge Corporation, and Tasman Pulp & Paper, in an attempt to create a New Zealand-based multi-national company. At the time, the newly merged company dealt in construction, building supplies, pulp and paper mills, forestry, and oil & gas. Following a series of bungled investments, the company demerged in the early 2000s to concentrate on building and construction. In Pakistan , some of
13221-487: Was on its way out. The stock market eventually figured out that the conglomerates' bloated and inefficient businesses were as cyclical as any others—indeed, it was that cyclical nature that had caused such businesses to be such undervalued acquisition targets in the first place —and their descent put "the lie to the claim that diversification allowed them to ride out a downturn." A major selloff of conglomerate shares ensued. To keep going, many conglomerates were forced to shed
13338-472: Was reorganized in 1968 by reincorporating under Delaware 's General Corporation Law , ending its Illinois incorporation, splitting its stock by four for one and forming a separate subsidiary of the Chicago Tribune . The 1970s brought another decade of acquisitions for the company including the purchase of a Los Angeles shopper in 1973, which became the Los Angeles Daily News . In 1973,
13455-454: Was reported that Tribune hired investment firms Evercore Partners and J.P. Morgan to oversee the sale of its newspapers. On July 1, 2013, Tribune announced that it would purchase the 19 television stations owned by Local TV, LLC outright for $ 2.75 billion. The FCC approved the acquisition on December 20, and the sale was completed one week later on December 27. Tribune later announced its return to television production on March 19, 2013, with
13572-592: Was sold to Boeing for $ 1.5 billion in October 2000. Also in October, the Institute for International Research purchased AchieveGlobal, a consulting and training firm for $ 100 million. Times Mirror Magazines was sold to Time, Inc. in November of that year for $ 475 million. Tribune divested its Tribune Education division to The McGraw-Hill Companies for $ 686 million in September 2000. After all these sales, Tribune still had $ 4 billion in long-term debt. Tribune started
13689-564: Was the number one publisher of supplemental education materials. Tribune Education acquired an 80.5% stake in mass market children's book publisher Landoll in 1997. In June 1998, Tribune entered into a trade with Emmis Communications to swap WQCD-FM to the latter company, in exchange for acquiring two Emmis-owned television stations ( WXMI in Grand Rapids, Michigan and KTZZ in Seattle , Washington ). It later traded WGNX in Atlanta to
#406593