Multicultural Broadcasting is a media company based in New York City founded by Chinese-American businessman Arthur Liu. It caters mostly to the

Asian American Asian Americans are Americans with ancestry from the continent of Asia (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of those immigrants). Although this term had historically been used fo ...

community and owns television and radio stations in several of the top markets in multiple languages. The company was founded as Multicultural Radio Broadcasting Inc. (MRBI) in 1982 with an initial business in United States radio broadcasting industry. To this day, it remains the largest Asian American owned media group in the U.S.

Air America controversy

In 2004, two weeks after Air America Radio's debut, it was pulled off the Multicultural radio stations in the

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

markets due to a contract dispute. Air America alleged that Multicultural sold time on their

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

station to both AAR and another party, and claimed that was why they stopped payment on checks due Multicultural while AAR investigated. Multicultural noted that Air America bounced a check and claimed they were owed in excess of $1 million. Air America Radio filed a complaint in

New York Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the superior court in the Judiciary of New York. It is vested with unlimited civil and criminal jurisdiction, although in many counties outside New York City it acts primarily as a court of civil ju ...

, charging

breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other part ...

and was briefly granted an injunction to restore the network on WNTD in Chicago. On April 20, the network announced the dispute had been settled, and Air America's last day of broadcast on WNTD was April 30. The New York Supreme Court ultimately concluded that the injunction was improvidently entered and that Air America Radio's court action was without merit, dismissing Air America's complaint and awarding over $250,000 in damages and attorneys' fees to Multicultural. According to a subsequent lawsuit filed by Multicultural, Air America Radio never paid the sums ordered by the court.

Radio stations by state

Source for list:

California

* KALI-FM - Santa Ana * KALI (AM) - Orange * KAZN - Pasadena/

* KAHZ - Pasadena ''(at Pomona)'' * KMRB -

KBLA KBLA (1580 AM) is a broadcast radio station in the United States. Licensed to Santa Monica, California, KBLA serves the Greater Los Angeles area. The station is owned by Multicultural Broadcasting, through licensee Multicultural Radio Broad ...

KFSG KFSG (1690 Hertz, kHz) is an AM broadcasting, AM radio station broadcasting a Brokered programming format featuring Spanish Religious and Multilingual shows. KFSG is licensed to Roseville, California and serves the Sacramento metropolitan area ...

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

* KLIB -

* KATD - Pittsburg/

''(satellite of KIQI 1010)'' * KEST -

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

* KIQI -

* KSJX - San Jose/

Florida

* WNMA -

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

* WEXY -

Fort Lauderdale Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it ...

* WJCC -

Maryland

* WLXE - Rockville * WFBR - Glen Burnie

Massachusetts

* WAZN - Watertown * WLYN - Lynn

New Jersey

* WHWH - Princeton * WPAT - Paterson (NYC) * WWRU -

Jersey City Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

(NYC)

New York

* WKDM - New York City * WZRC - New York City

Pennsylvania

* WTTM -

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Texas

* KDFT - Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex ''(at Ferris)'' * KMNY - Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex ''(at Hurst)'' * KCHN -

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Washington

* KXPA -

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

* KARI - Blaine * KVRI - Blaine ''(studios in

Surrey, British Columbia Surrey is a city in British Columbia, Canada. It is located south of the Fraser River on the Canada–United States border. It is a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver regional district and metropolitan area. Mainly a suburban city, Surr ...

, serving

Metro Vancouver The Metro Vancouver Regional District (MVRD), or simply Metro Vancouver, is a Canadian political subdivision and Corporation, corporate entity representing the metropolitan area of Greater Vancouver, designated by provincial legislation as o ...

)''

Television

On September 26, 2006, Multicultural Broadcasting made an agreement with The E. W. Scripps Company to buy five of Scripps'

Shop At Home The Shop at Home Network (also called Shop at Home, Shop at Home TV and SATH) was a television network in the United States, owned and operated by the E. W. Scripps Company from 2002 to 2006, then by Jewelry Television. It primarily aired home ...

Jewelry Television Jewelry Television is an American television network specializing in the sale of jewelry. On-air and online, the network is mainly branded by its jtv initials in small caps, lower-case letters. It has an estimated reach of more than 80 million ...

affiliated broadcast television stations for $170 million. Sales were final on KCNS (

), WOAC (

Canton, Ohio Canton () is a city in Stark County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, eighth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 70,872 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Canton–Massillo ...

; now WRLM), WRAY-TV (

Raleigh Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

) on December 20, 2006, followed by

WMFP WMFP (channel 62) is a television station licensed to Foxborough, Massachusetts, United States, serving the Boston area as an affiliate of the digital multicast network TBD. It is owned by WRNN-TV Associates alongside Norwell-licensed WWD ...

(

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

) and WSAH (

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut and the List of cities in New England by population, fifth-most populous city in New England, with a population of 148,654 in 2020. Loc ...

). Prior to that, the five stations switched to a 24-hour infomercial format. The Sunbelt Television-owned KHIZ (now KILM) (

Barstow, California Barstow is a city in San Bernardino County, California, in the Mojave Desert of Southern California. Located in the Inland Empire region of California, the population was 25,415 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Barstow is an impor ...

) has been absorbed into Multicultural's portfolio upon FCC approval, however, it remained an affiliate of SonLife Broadcasting Network. On November 5, 2008; Multicultural Broadcasting has suffered financial defaults of $135 million in loans and the company has headed into a trust under the care and feeding of Lee W. Shubert for the purposes of selling off assets and paying off their creditors. Stations included KCNS, WMFP, WOAC, and WRAY-TV.Multicultural group going into breakup mode
-
Radio/Television Business Report
' (released November 5, 2008) WOAC was the first to be picked up on June 24, 2009 by

Tri-State Christian Television Tri-State Christian Television, Inc., trade name, doing business as TCT Network and TCT Ministries (formerly Total Christian Television), is a religious broadcasting, religious television network in the United States. The network was founded in M ...

, through Radiant Life Ministries. WRAY-TV was sold in October 2009. In January 2011, KCNS, WMFP, and WSAH were sold to NRJ TV, LLC. KILM was the only remaining TV station in the Multicultural group until 2018 when

Ion Media Ion Media, LLC (formerly known as Paxson Communications Corporation and Ion Media Networks) is a subsidiary of the E.W. Scripps Company that operates the linear broadcast networks Ion Television, Ion Mystery, and Ion Plus. Prior to its acquis ...

purchased it and converted it to an Ion Life affiliate. In 2012 Arthur Liu sold its headquarters at 449 Broadway, relocating executive offices and studios to 40 Exchange Place in the Financial district.

References

External links

* {{Multicultural Broadcasting Television networks in the United States Radio broadcasting companies of the United States Companies based in New York City