Multimedia, Inc. was a

media Media may refer to: Communication * Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Interactive media, media that is inter ...

company that owned 12 daily

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

s, 49 weekly newspapers, two

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

stations, five

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

stations, and a

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

system division. The company was headquartered in

Greenville, South Carolina Greenville ( ; ) is a city in Greenville County, South Carolina, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, sixth-most pop ...

History

Multimedia's origins can be traced to December 1932, when the News-Piedmont Company of Greenville, which published the ''Greenville News'' and ''Greenville Piedmont'' newspapers, acquired radio station WFBC, only weeks after the station relocated to Greenville from

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

. In November 1953 the News-Piedmont Co. acquired majority ownership of the ''Asheville Citizen'' and ''Asheville Times'' and its wholly owned radio station, WWNC. WFBC-TV, the ''News'' and ''Piedmonts television station, signed on from Greenville at the end of 1953. The News-Piedmont Co. would expand its broadcast holdings with the acquisitions of WBIR-AM- FM- TV in Knoxville in 1961, and of the Southeastern Broadcasting Company, which owned WMAZ-AM- FM- TV in

Macon, Georgia Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. Situated near the Atlantic Seaboard fall line, fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is southeast of Atlanta and near the ...

, in 1963. Then, in September 1967 the three commonly owned companies announced that, pending approval by the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

(FCC), they would merge by January 1, 1968, taking on the Multimedia, Inc. name. At the time Multimedia consisted of the Asheville and Greenville newspapers, three television stations and seven radio stations. The company's most significant acquisitions came in 1976, when it purchased several properties from

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

-based

Avco Avco Corporation is a subsidiary of Textron, which operates Textron Systems Corporation and Lycoming. History The Aviation Corporation was formed on March 2, 1929, to prevent a takeover of CAM-24 airmail service operator Embry-Riddle Compa ...

, which was liquidating its media holdings. Multimedia first bought Avco's flagship television station,

WLWT WLWT (channel 5) is a television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Hearst Television. The station's studios are located on Young Street, and its transmitter is located on Chickasaw Street, both in th ...

in Cincinnati, and later acquired Avco Program Sales, the syndication division which produced and nationally distributed ''

The Phil Donahue Show ''The Phil Donahue Show'' is an American talk show that was hosted by Phil Donahue. The show ran for twenty-nine seasons from November 6, 1967, to September 13, 1996, in which it broadcast 6,715 episodes. Before it was placed in syndication ...

'' and a regionally-distributed program produced at WLWT, '' The Bob Braun 50-50 Club''. This division would be renamed Multimedia Program Sales. The company was involved in one of the more unusual media transactions in history. In 1983, it sold its flagship television station, WFBC-TV in Greenville (now WYFF) and

WXII-TV WXII-TV (channel 12) is a television station licensed to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States, serving the Piedmont Triad region as an affiliate of NBC. It is owned by Hearst Television alongside Lexington-licensed CW affiliate WCWG ...

Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city in Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the List of municipalities in North Carolina, fifth-most populous ...

, to Pulitzer, Inc. In return, Multimedia received Pulitzer's former flagship television station,

KSDK KSDK (channel 5) is a television station in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on Market Street in Downtown St. Louis, and its transmitter is located in Shrewsbury, M ...

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

. Multimedia used its new purchase as the testing ground for a new show hosted by

Sally Jessy Raphael Sally Lowenthal (born February 25, 1935), better known as Sally Jessy Raphael, is an American retired talk show host, who is best known for her program '' Sally'' (originally called ''The Sally Jessy Raphael Show''). Early life and education Lo ...

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

unit considered buying the company in 1995, but a deal never materialized. Instead, on July 24, 1995, the

Gannett Company Gannett Co., Inc. ( ) is an American mass media holding company headquartered in New York City. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. It owns the national newspaper ''USA Today'', as well as severa ...

announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire Multimedia for $1.7 billion, plus $539 million in long-term debt. The merger was approved by the FCC in November 1995 and was completed a month later, on December 4. In November 1996, Gannett sold Multimedia Entertainment to MCA subsidiary of

Seagram The Seagram Company Ltd. (which trade name, traded as Seagram's) was a Canadian multinational beverage and during the last few years of its existence, entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate formerly headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. ...

. In January 2000 the cable television division, which included systems in Kansas, Oklahoma and North Carolina was sold to

Cox Communications Cox Communications, Inc. (also known as Cox Cable and formerly Cox Broadcasting Corporation, Dimension Cable Services and Times-Mirror Cable), is an American digital cable television provider, telecommunications and home automation services comp ...

. The North Carolina systems were resold to

Suddenlink Communications Suddenlink was an American telecommunications subsidiary of Altice USA trading in cable television, broadband, IP telephony, home security, and advertising. Prior to its acquisition by Altice, the company was the seventh largest cable operator w ...

in 2006. The Multimedia name lives on as a holding company and licensee within what is now

Tegna Inc. 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 publ ...

's corporate structure. Productions under Multimedia Entertainment continued on into

NBCUniversal Syndication Studios NBCUniversal Syndication Studios (a.k.a. NUSS), formerly known as NBCUniversal Television Distribution (a.k.a. NUTD), Universal Domestic Television, Studios USA Television Distribution and MCA TV (stylized as NBCUniversal SYNDICATION STUDIOS) is t ...

, and are now controlled and distributed by NBCUniversal.

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 ...

. * Two boldface asterisks appearing following a station's call letters (**) indicate a station built and signed on by a predecessor company of Multimedia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Multimedia (Media Company) Defunct broadcasting companies of the United States Defunct mass media companies of the United States Companies based in Greenville, South Carolina Defunct companies based in South Carolina Tegna Inc. 1968 establishments in South Carolina 1995 disestablishments in South Carolina 1995 mergers and acquisitions Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange