Freedom Communications, Inc. was an American

media conglomerate A media conglomerate, media company, media group, or media institution is a company that owns numerous companies involved in mass media enterprises, such as music, television, radio, publishing, motion pictures, video games, amusement parks, or ...

that operated daily and weekly newspapers, websites and mobile applications and television stations, as well as ''Coast Magazine'' and other specialty publications. Headquartered at 625 N. Grand Avenue in

Santa Ana, California Santa Ana (Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, California, United States. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census. As ...

, it was owned by a

private equity firm A private equity firm or private equity company (often described as a financial sponsor) is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of a Startup company, startup or of an existin ...

, 2100 Trust, established in 2010 by investor Aaron Kushner. Freedom's

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

newspaper was the ''

Orange County Register ''The Orange County Register'' is a paid daily List of newspapers in California, newspaper published in California. The ''Register'', published in Orange County, California, is owned by the private equity firm Alden Global Capital via its Digit ...

'', based in Santa Ana.

Ownership

Founder R.C. Hoiles gained a one-third interest in his first newspaper (''The Alliance Review'' in Ohio) sometime in the 1910s. He and his brother Frank bought many more local newspapers over the next several decades. In 1935 he moved his base of operations to

, and in 1950 he incorporated his syndicate as Freedom Newspapers, Inc. It was renamed Freedom Communications in 1993. The company became a television station owner in 1984, with the acquisition of its first two stations WTVC-TV,

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

and KFDM-TV,

Beaumont, Texas Beaumont is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, located in Southeast Texas on the Neches River about east of Houston (city ...

. The Freedom television group eventually grew to six stations, including WRGB-TV

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

, WPEC-TV

West Palm Beach, Florida West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, Florida, Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lag ...

, WWMT-TV,

Kalamazoo, Michigan Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 73,598. It is the principal city of the Kalamazoo–Portage metropolitan are ...

and KTVL-TV

Medford, Oregon Medford is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, Oregon, in the United States. As of the 2020 United States census on April 1, 2020, the city had a total population of 85,824, making it the List of cities in Oregon, eighth-most populo ...

. Freedom was operated as an entirely family-owned business until 2004, when private-equity firms

Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. It was founded in 1985 as a mergers and acquisitions firm by Peter Peterson and Stephen Schwarzman, who had previously worked together at Lehman ...

and Providence Equity Partners acquired a 40 percent share in Freedom for about $460 million. As part of this transaction, Freedom had acquired substantial debt. On September 1, 2009, Freedom Communications went into a

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

bankruptcy reorganization. The company left bankruptcy on April 30, 2010, under the ownership of investment firms Alden Global Capital, Angelo, Gordon & Co. and Luxor Capital Group. Lenders to the company also retained a stake in Freedom. The company announced on November 2, 2011 that it would sell its entire television division to

Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair, Inc., doing business as Sinclair Broadcast Group, is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb o ...

for $385 million in a move to eliminate the company's debt. The sale was completed on April 2, 2012. Freedom began selling the majority of its newspaper portfolio in 2012. Four papers in the Midwest were sold to Ohio Community Media, an affiliate of the private equity firm Versa Capital Management, in May. The '' Clovis News Journal'' and other newspapers in New Mexico were sold to Stevenson Newspapers. Freedom papers in Texas were sold to AIM Media Texas. Its Florida and North Carolina papers were sold to Halifax Media Group. On June 11, 2012, Freedom Communications Holdings, Inc., announced an agreement to be acquired by 2100 Trust, LLC. in a merger with a subsidiary of 2100 Trust. On July 25, 2012, the latter, led by entrepreneur Aaron Kushner, acquired Freedom's dailies, associated non-daily publications and digital properties. The company continued to operate under the name Freedom Communications. Kushner, who "preached the virtues of local journalism and a print product," bought Freedom in 2012 for $50 million plus assumption of pension liabilities. He increased staff and added new sections at the ''Orange County Register'' and began a new daily, the ''Long Beach Register.'' In January 2014, however, he announced heavy layoffs in Orange County and at the

Riverside Press-Enterprise ''The Press-Enterprise'' is a paid daily newspaper published by Digital First Media that serves the Inland Empire in Southern California. Headquartered in downtown Riverside, California, it is the primary newspaper for Riverside County, with h ...

, which he also owned. The ''Register'' launched a Los Angeles edition, the ''Los Angeles Register'', on April 16, 2014, but the venture ended five months later. The ''Long Beach Register'' became a Sunday-only publication in June 2014, and ceased publication in December 2014. Freedom closed the sale of '' The Gazette (Colorado Springs)'' to Clarity Media, a subsidiary of The Anschutz Corporation, on November 30, 2012. In 2013, Freedom Communications sold the '' Yuma Sun'' and the '' Porterville Recorder'' to Rhode Island Suburban Newspapers and the '' Appeal-Democrat'' to Horizon Publications. In 2014, Freedom sold the '' Daily Press'' and the '' Desert Dispatch'' to New Media Investment Group. On November 1, 2015, Freedom Communications filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In January, Freedom closed several of its weekly papers in Orange County. On March 21, 2016 a bankruptcy judge approved the sale of Freedom Communications and its two major newspapers, the ''

'' and the ''

'' to

Digital First Media MNG Enterprises, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Digital First Media and MediaNews Group, is a Denver, Colorado, United States–based newspaper publisher owned by Alden Global Capital. As of May 2021, it owns over 100 newspapers and 200 ass ...

(DFM). DFM is the parent of the Los Angeles News Group (LANG), which was renamed the Southern California News Group on the same day, and which owns eleven daily newspapers in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

Leadership

Founder and chief executive officer R.C. Hoiles led Freedom until his death in 1970. He was succeeded as

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

by his son, C.H. Hoiles, who served until 1981, and then by: * D.R. Segal (1981–1992) * James N. Rosse (1992–1999) * Samuel C. Wolgemuth (1999–2002) * Alan Bell (2002–2006) * Scott N. Flanders (2006–2009) * Burl Osborne (2009–2010) * Mitchell Stern (2010–2012) * Aaron Kushner (2012–2015) * Rich Mirman (2015−2016)

Newspapers

Freedom's newspaper portfolio consists of:

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...

* Weekly newspapers: ** '' Easy Reader'' of

Hermosa Beach Hermosa Beach (, Spanish language, Spanish for "Beautiful") is a beachfront city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Its population was 19,728 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census. The city is located in the South Ba ...

(managed by Freedom pursuant to long-term agreement); includes 3 ''Easy Reader'' magazines: ::*''Beach'' ::*''Peninsula People'' ::*''Drop Zone'' Riverside County * '' The Press-Enterprise'' of Riverside * Weekly newspaper: ** ''Desert Enterprise'' of Palm Springs

Regional In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

* ''Unidos en el Sur de California'' (regional Spanish-language weekly)Mediha deMartino
"Freedom to Consolidate Spanish-Language Weeklies"
'' Orange County Business Journal'', March 7, 2014 Orange County * '' The Orange County Register'' of Santa Ana * Weekly newspapers: ** ''Anaheim Hills News'' of Anaheim Hills ** ''Anaheim Bulletin'' of

Anaheim Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, part of the Greater Los Angeles area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the tenth-most ...

** ''Capistrano Valley News'' of San Juan CapistranoMedia General Puts 31 Papers, Including 13 in County, Up for Sale
/ref> ** ''The Current'' of Newport Beach ** ''Dana Point News'' of Dana Point ** ''Fountain Valley View'' of Fountain Valley ** ''Fullerton News Tribune'' of Fullerton ** ''Huntington Beach Wave'' of Huntington Beach ** ''Irvine World News'' of Irvine ** ''La Habra/Brea Star Progress'' of La Habra ** ''Ladera Post'' of Ladera Ranch ** ''Laguna News-Post'' of Laguna Beach ** ''Laguna Niguel/Aliso Viejo News'' of Laguna Niguel ** ''Laguna Woods Globe'' of Laguna Woods ** ''Orange City News'' of Orange ** ''Placentia News-Times'' of Placentia ** ''Rancho Canyon News'' of Rancho Santa Margarita ** ''Saddleback Valley News'' of Lake Forest ** ''Saddleback Valley News'' of

Mission Viejo Mission Viejo ( ; language change, corruption of ; ) is a Commuter town, commuter city in the Saddleback Valley in Orange County, California, United States. Mission Viejo is considered one of the largest Planned community, master-planned commu ...

** ''Sun Post News'' of San Clemente ** ''Tustin News'' of Tustin ** ''Yorba Linda Star'' of Yorba Linda

Former stations

* Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state and

city of license In U.S., Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator. In North American broadcast ...

References

External links

* {{Coord, 33.7511, -117.8505, display=title Defunct mass media companies of the United States Defunct newspaper companies of the United States Defunct broadcasting companies of the United States Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles Digital First Media Sinclair Broadcast Group Companies based in Santa Ana, California Publishing companies established in 1950 Mass media companies disestablished in 2016 1950 establishments in California 2016 disestablishments in California Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2015