The Evening Telegram Company,

d/b/a A trade name, trading name, or business name is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is fictitious business name. Registering the fictitious name with ...

Morgan Murphy Media, is an American television and radio company based in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

. The company is named for publisher Morgan Murphy, who expanded the business after he took over from his grandfather, who founded the '' Superior Evening Telegram'' (now owned by Forum Communications).

History

The company traces its roots to the founding of the ''Superior Evening Telegram'' in 1890 by John T. Murphy. He died in 1932, and the business passed to his son John Morgan Murphy, who acquired several other newspapers in the Upper Midwest and also expanded into broadcasting. The company sold off its print interests in 2003, leaving only its former broadcasting division. Nevertheless, it is still legally incorporated as the "Evening Telegram Company." The company was known as Morgan Murphy Stations until 2007, when its trade name was slightly changed to Morgan Murphy Media. On May 10, 2017, the company announced that it would acquire Saga Communications' television clusters in

Joplin, Missouri Joplin is a city in Jasper County, Missouri, Jasper and Newton County, Missouri, Newton counties in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Missouri. The bulk of the city is in Jasper County, while the southern portion is in Newton County. J ...

, including

KOAM-TV KOAM-TV (channel 7) is a television station licensed to Pittsburg, Kansas, United States, serving the Joplin, Missouri–Pittsburg, Kansas market as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned by Morgan Murphy Media, which provides certain services to ...

, and

Victoria, Texas Victoria is a city and the county seat of Victoria County, Texas, United States. The population was 65,534 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The three counties of the Victoria, Texas metropolitan area, Victoria Metropolitan Statis ...

, including

KAVU-TV KAVU-TV (channel 25) is a television station in Victoria, Texas, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. Owned by Morgan Murphy Media, it is the largest station in the Victoria Television Group, which also includes the ...

. Saga will additionally acquire the assets of Fox affiliates in each market owned by Surtsey Media and operated by Saga under

local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one corporation, company agrees to operate a radio station, radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it ...

s, including KFJX in Joplin, Missouri and

KVCT KVCT (channel 19) is a television station in Victoria, Texas, United States, affiliated with Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox and The CW Plus. It is owned by SagamoreHill Broadcasting, which maintains a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Morgan ...

in Victoria, Texas. Those stations' license assets were acquired by SagamoreHill Broadcasting. The sale was completed September 1. In September 2018, it was announced that the company would invest in Good Karma Brands to back its acquisition of the Milwaukee radio stations

WKTI WKTI (94.5 FM broadcasting, FM) – branded 94.5 ESPN Milwaukee – is a commercial Sports radio, sports radio station licensed to Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, serving the Milwaukee metropolitan area. Owned by Good Karma Brands, WKTI is a ...

and WTMJ. On October 13, 2021, the company dropped its channels from

Dish Network DISH Network L.L.C., often referred to as DISH, an abbreviation for Digital Sky Highway, is an American provider of satellite television and IPTV services and wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation. The company was originally establ ...

due to a programming dispute. This dispute is in addition to Dish's dispute with

Tegna Tegna Inc. (stylized in all caps as TEGNA) is an American publicly traded broadcast, digital media and marketing services company headquartered in Tysons, Virginia. It was created on June 29, 2015, when the Gannett Company split into two publi ...

and is the 2nd time that a satellite TV company was involved with such conflicts (

DIRECTV DirecTV, LLC is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital Satellite television, s ...

had a conflict with the companies' stations in December 2020). In September 2023, the company acquired The Marks Group's Michigan broadcasting properties— WBKB-TV, WBKP, WBUP, and the Houghton and Iron River radio stations—for $13.375 million. The deal was closed on December 4. Morgan Murphy subsequently took over operations of

WJMN-TV WJMN-TV (channel 3) is a television station licensed to Escanaba, Michigan, United States, serving the Central and Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan as a satellite of ABC affiliate WBUP (channel 10). The station is owned by Sullivan's Landi ...

, owned by Sullivan's Landing, LLC (following its acquisition from

Nexstar Media Group Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarters in Irving, Texas, Midtown Manhattan, and Chicago. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 television station ...

), via joint sales and shared services agreements; WJMN-TV merged its operations into, and was converted into a satellite of, WBUP.

Television 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 ...

. (**) - Indicates a station built and signed on by Morgan Murphy Media (then known as the Evening Telegram Company).

Former television stations

Other properties

Idaho

Radio

*1080 KVNI -

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

( Coeur d'Alene, run by Queen B Broadcasting of

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

)

Michigan

Radio

* Houghton **1400 WCCY -

top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

**96.3 WHBS — adult contemporary **97.7 WOLV-FM - classic hits **102.3 WHKB -

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

* Iron River **1230 WFER - classic country **99.1 WIKB-FM - classic hits

Wisconsin

Radio

* Platteville (serving

Dubuque, Iowa Dubuque (, ) is a city in Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. The population was 59,667 at the 2020 United States census. The city lies along the Mississippi River at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a region ...

) **1590 WPVL -

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

**106.1 KIYX - classic hits **107.1 WPVL-FM - top 40 * Lancaster **1280 WGLR - silent (as of April 1, 2015) **97.7 WGLR-FM - country *

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

(as a silent partner with Good Karma Brands) **620 WTMJ -

news/talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, interviews ...

and sports play-by-play **1510

WGKB WGKB (1510 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Waukesha, Wisconsin, and serving the Greater Milwaukee media market. It is owned by Good Karma Brands, broadcasting a talk radio format aimed at Milwaukee's African American c ...

- local talk radio for Milwaukee's black community **94.5

- local sports and some play-by-play

Print

*''Madison Magazine''

Washington

Radio

*Queen B Broadcasting (

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south ...

): **700 KXLX - sports **920 KXLY - news/talk **92.9 KZZU -

adult top 40 The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Syste ...

**94.5 KHTQ -

active rock Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock stations play a balance of new hard rock songs with valued classic rock favorites, normally with an emphasis on the harder edge o ...

**96.9 KEZE - rhythmic top 40 **99.9 KXLY-FM - country

References

External links

Official site
{{Morgan Murphy Morgan Murphy Media stations Radio broadcasting companies of the United States Television broadcasting companies of the United States Companies based in Madison, Wisconsin