Field Communications
Encyclopedia
Field Communications was a division of Field Enterprises
, which owned the Chicago Sun-Times
and the Chicago Daily News
. The company owned independent television stations
in the United States
, with WFLD-TV in Chicago
as its largest-market station.
, owners of KBSC-TV
in Corona, CA
(serving Los Angeles
), WKBG-TV
in Cambridge, MA
(serving Boston
, and in tandem with the Boston Globe), WKBS-TV
in Burlington, N.J.
(serving Philadelphia), WKBF-TV
in Cleveland, WKBD-TV in Detroit, and KBHK-TV in San Francisco. Field retained the remainder of WFLD's shares (about 22.5 percent), and in return, received a minority stake in Kaiser Broadcasting (also about 22.5 percent).
In 1975 Kaiser shut down WKBF, returning its license to the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) and merging most of its programming with WUAB
, of which Kaiser purchased a minority ownership from United Artists
Broadcasting.
In 1977, Kaiser sold its majority stake of their stations, sans KBSC (which was sold to Oak TV), to Field. This gave Field one-hundred percent ownership of WFLD again. Field did not acquire Kaiser's share of WUAB, which United Artists sold to Gaylord Broadcasting
that same year. The new owners also updated the look of all of the former Kaiser stations.
, who each controlled half of Field Enterprises, got into a dispute on how the company should operate which left them unable to work together. As a result of the dispute, Field Communications was put up for sale with the 5 stations as a packaged deal. With no takers the TV stations were individually put up for sale, as Field opted to dissolve the company. All of them were sold successfully except for the stations in Philadelphia and Detroit. However, WKBD
in Detroit was eventually sold to Cox Communications
in 1984. Many companies offered Field money for WKBS in Philadelphia, however, none of the bids were high enough. Meanwhile, the FCC gave Field a mandate which meant they had until July 15, 1983 to either sell WKBS, shut the station down, or remove it from the selling block and continue to broadcast. The Providence Journal Company, owners of rival Philadelphia independent WPHL-TV
, offered to buy WKBS and merge the assets of the two stations. Their bid was still too low, so WPHL offered to buy only equipment and programming from Field contingent upon the passing of their deadline and the exercising of their second option . The deadline had passed and Field decided to go through with the deal, and on August 30, 1983, Field signed WKBS-TV off the air for good and surrendered the license back to the FCC.
Footnotes:
Field Enterprises
Field Enterprises was a private holding company founded on August 31, 1944, by Marshall Field III and others whose main asset was the Chicago Sun. That same year the company acquired the book publishers Simon & Schuster and Pocket Books....
, which owned the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
and the Chicago Daily News
Chicago Daily News
The Chicago Daily News was an afternoon daily newspaper published between 1876 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois.-History:The Daily News was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty in 1875 and began publishing early the next year...
. The company owned independent television stations
Independent station
An independent station is in the category of television terminology used to describe a television station broadcasting in the United States or Canada that is not affiliated with any television network....
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, with WFLD-TV in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
as its largest-market station.
History
The broadcasting arm of Field Enterprises began in January 1966 with the initial sign-on of WFLD. In 1972, Field sold a majority ownership (about 77.5 percent) of WFLD to Kaiser BroadcastingKaiser Broadcasting
Kaiser Broadcasting was the name of an entity that owned and operated broadcast television stations in the United States from 1958 to 1977.-History:...
, owners of KBSC-TV
KVEA
KVEA is a Spanish-language television station in the Los Angeles area owned and operated by NBC Universal and the West Coast flagship station of the Telemundo network. It was the first mainland U.S. station owned by Telemundo at the network's launch in the late 1980's...
in Corona, CA
Corona, California
Corona is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 152,374, up from 124,966 at the 2000 census...
(serving Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
), WKBG-TV
WLVI-TV
WLVI, digital channel 41, is a television station licensed to Cambridge, Massachusetts which serves as the CW affiliate for the Boston, Massachusetts television market. WLVI is owned by Sunbeam Television, and is a sister station to WHDH, Boston's NBC affiliate. The two stations share studios at...
in Cambridge, MA
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
(serving Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, and in tandem with the Boston Globe), WKBS-TV
WKBS-TV (Philadelphia)
WKBS-TV was an independent television station licensed to Burlington, New Jersey, which served the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area from 1965 to 1983. WKBS-TV had studio facilities located in South Philadelphia, and transmitter at the Roxborough tower farm in Philadelphia.-History:WKBS-TV began...
in Burlington, N.J.
Burlington, New Jersey
Burlington is a city in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States and a suburb of Philadelphia. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 9,920....
(serving Philadelphia), WKBF-TV
WKBF-TV
WKBF-TV channel 61 was an Independent television station serving the Cleveland, Ohio market owned by a joint venture between Kaiser Broadcasting and Field Communications...
in Cleveland, WKBD-TV in Detroit, and KBHK-TV in San Francisco. Field retained the remainder of WFLD's shares (about 22.5 percent), and in return, received a minority stake in Kaiser Broadcasting (also about 22.5 percent).
In 1975 Kaiser shut down WKBF, returning its license to the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) and merging most of its programming with WUAB
WUAB
WUAB, identified on-air as "My43 The Block, WUAB", is the MyNetworkTV affiliate in Cleveland, Ohio. The station is licensed to the suburb of Lorain, and it shares a studio in downtown Cleveland with sister station WOIO, Cleveland's CBS affiliate. Its transmitter is located in Parma, Ohio...
, of which Kaiser purchased a minority ownership from United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
Broadcasting.
In 1977, Kaiser sold its majority stake of their stations, sans KBSC (which was sold to Oak TV), to Field. This gave Field one-hundred percent ownership of WFLD again. Field did not acquire Kaiser's share of WUAB, which United Artists sold to Gaylord Broadcasting
Gaylord Entertainment Company
The Gaylord Entertainment Company operates a number of hotel, resort, and media companies that were built by Edward Gaylord. It was previously a subsidiary of the Oklahoma City-based Oklahoma Publishing Company, which is owned by the Gaylord family and publishes the Daily Oklahoman newspaper...
that same year. The new owners also updated the look of all of the former Kaiser stations.
The beginning of the end
In 1982, half-brothers Marshall Field V and Frederick W. FieldTed Field
Frederick Woodruff "Ted" Field is an American media mogul and entrepreneur and film producer.-Biography:Field was born in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, the son of Katherine Woodruff Fanning, an editor of the Christian Science Monitor, and Marshall Field IV, who owned the Chicago Sun-Times. He is...
, who each controlled half of Field Enterprises, got into a dispute on how the company should operate which left them unable to work together. As a result of the dispute, Field Communications was put up for sale with the 5 stations as a packaged deal. With no takers the TV stations were individually put up for sale, as Field opted to dissolve the company. All of them were sold successfully except for the stations in Philadelphia and Detroit. However, WKBD
WKBD
WKBD-TV, virtual channel 50 , is an owned and operated station of the CW Television Network, based in Detroit, Michigan. The station is owned and operated by the CBS Corporation, and is one-half of a duopoly with sister station WWJ-TV . Its studios and transmitters are located at 11 mile and...
in Detroit was eventually sold to Cox Communications
Cox Communications
Cox Communications is a privately owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises providing digital cable television, telecommunications and wireless services in the United States...
in 1984. Many companies offered Field money for WKBS in Philadelphia, however, none of the bids were high enough. Meanwhile, the FCC gave Field a mandate which meant they had until July 15, 1983 to either sell WKBS, shut the station down, or remove it from the selling block and continue to broadcast. The Providence Journal Company, owners of rival Philadelphia independent WPHL-TV
WPHL-TV
WPHL-TV, channel 17, is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, owned by the Tribune Company and currently affiliated with the News Corporation-owned MyNetworkTV television network. This makes it the largest non-O&O station of the network...
, offered to buy WKBS and merge the assets of the two stations. Their bid was still too low, so WPHL offered to buy only equipment and programming from Field contingent upon the passing of their deadline and the exercising of their second option . The deadline had passed and Field decided to go through with the deal, and on August 30, 1983, Field signed WKBS-TV off the air for good and surrendered the license back to the FCC.
What became of the stations
| DMA Media market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area , Television Market Area , or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same television and radio station offerings, and may also include other types of media including newspapers and Internet content... |
Market | Station | Sold To | Current Owners | Current Network Affiliation |
| 3. | Chicago Chicago Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles... |
WFLD-TV WFLD WFLD, virtual channel 32 , is the Fox owned-and-operated television station, based in Chicago, Illinois; through its parent company News Corporation, the station is owned in a duopoly with area MyNetworkTV affiliate WPWR-TV... 32 |
Metromedia Metromedia Metromedia was a media company that owned radio and television stations in the United States from 1956 to 1986 and owned Orion Pictures from 1986-1997.- Overview :... - 1983 |
News Corporation News Corporation News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster... - 1986 |
Fox Fox Broadcasting Company Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the... - 1986 |
| 4. | Burlington Burlington, New Jersey Burlington is a city in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States and a suburb of Philadelphia. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 9,920.... - Philadelphia |
WKBS-TV WKBS-TV (Philadelphia) WKBS-TV was an independent television station licensed to Burlington, New Jersey, which served the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area from 1965 to 1983. WKBS-TV had studio facilities located in South Philadelphia, and transmitter at the Roxborough tower farm in Philadelphia.-History:WKBS-TV began... 48 |
taken off the air - 1983 | defunct1 | defunct1 |
| 5. | San Francisco San Francisco, California San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland... - Oakland Oakland, California Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724... - San Jose San Jose, California San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay... |
KBHK-TV 44 (now KBCW-TV) |
Chris-Craft Industries Chris-Craft Industries Chris-Craft Industries, Inc., formerly National Automotive Fibers, Inc., was a publicly-held American corporation traded on the New York and Pacific Stock Exchanges. It later took on the name of one of its acquisitions, Chris-Craft Boats... - 1983 |
CBS Corporation CBS Corporation CBS Corporation is an American media conglomerate focused on commercial broadcasting, publishing, billboards and television production, with most of its operations in the United States. The President and CEO of the company is Leslie Moonves. Sumner Redstone, owner of National Amusements, is CBS's... 2 - 2002 |
CW The CW Television Network The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB... - 2006 |
| 7. | Cambridge Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent... - Boston |
WLVI-TV WLVI-TV WLVI, digital channel 41, is a television station licensed to Cambridge, Massachusetts which serves as the CW affiliate for the Boston, Massachusetts television market. WLVI is owned by Sunbeam Television, and is a sister station to WHDH, Boston's NBC affiliate. The two stations share studios at... 56 |
Gannett Company Gannett Company Gannett Company, Inc. is a publicly-traded media holding company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia, United States, near McLean. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. Its assets include the national newspaper USA Today and the weekly USA Weekend... - 1983 |
Sunbeam Television Sunbeam Television Sunbeam Television Corporation is a broadcasting company based in Miami, Florida, and owns three television stations in the United States.-History:... - 2006 |
CW The CW Television Network The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB... - 2006 |
| 11. | Detroit - Windsor Windsor, Ontario Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada and is located in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. It is within Essex County, Ontario, although administratively separated from the county government. Separated by the Detroit River, Windsor... |
WKBD-TV 50 | Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications is a privately owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises providing digital cable television, telecommunications and wireless services in the United States... - 1984 |
CBS Corporation CBS Corporation CBS Corporation is an American media conglomerate focused on commercial broadcasting, publishing, billboards and television production, with most of its operations in the United States. The President and CEO of the company is Leslie Moonves. Sumner Redstone, owner of National Amusements, is CBS's... 3 - 1993 |
CW The CW Television Network The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB... - 2006 |
Footnotes:
- 1Returned to the air in 1992 as WGTW-TVWGTW-TVWGTW-TV, digital channel 27, is a Trinity Broadcasting Network-owned and operated television station licensed to Burlington, New Jersey, and serving the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area...
, purchased by/affiliated with TBNTrinity Broadcasting NetworkThe Trinity Broadcasting Network is a major American Christian television network. TBN is based in Costa Mesa, California, with auxiliary studio facilities in Irving, Texas; Hendersonville, Tennessee; Gadsden, Alabama; Decatur, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Orlando, Florida; and New...
in 2004 - 2Originally sold to Viacom Television Stations Group
- 3Originally sold to Paramount Stations GroupParamount Stations GroupParamount Stations Group was a television broadcasting company that was renamed from the TVX Broadcast Group in 1991 after Paramount Pictures gained full ownership of the group. At the time, it owned several Fox affiliates and independent stations...
(later Viacom Television Stations Group following several mergersConcentration of media ownershipConcentration of media ownership refers to a process whereby progressively fewer individuals or organizations control increasing shares of the mass media...
, now part of CBS CorporationCBS CorporationCBS Corporation is an American media conglomerate focused on commercial broadcasting, publishing, billboards and television production, with most of its operations in the United States. The President and CEO of the company is Leslie Moonves. Sumner Redstone, owner of National Amusements, is CBS's...
as CBS Television Stations Group).