The Evening Telegram Company, d/b/a Morgan Murphy Media, is an American television and radio company based in Madison, Wisconsin. The company is named for publisher Morgan Murphy, who expanded the business after he took over from his grandfather, who had 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."Company history
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, including KOAM-TV, and Victoria, Texas, including KAVU-TV. Saga will additionally acquire the assets of Fox affiliates in each market owned by Surtsey Media and operated by Saga under local marketing agreements, including KFJX in Joplin, Missouri and KVCT in Victoria, Texas. Those stations' license assets were acquired by SagamoreHill Broadcasting. The sale was completed September 1.Consummation Notice, CDBS Public Access, Federal Communications Commission, Retrieved September 5, 2017.Consummation Notice, CDBS Public Access, Federal Communications Commission, Retrieved September 5, 2017.
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 and WTMJ.
On October 13, 2021, the company dropped its channels from Dish Network due to a programming dispute. This dispute is in addition to Dish's dispute with Tegna and is the 2nd time that a satellite TV company was involved with such conflicts (DIRECTV had a conflict with the companies' stations in December 2020).Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine:
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, owned by Sullivan's Landing, LLC (following its acquisition from Nexstar Media Group), 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.
(**) - Indicates a station built and signed on by Morgan Murphy Media (then known as the Evening Telegram Company). Media market State Station Purchased Affiliation Notes Pittsburg Kansas KOAM-TV 2017 CBS KFJX Fox Alpena Michigan WBKB-TV 2023 Marquette WJMN-TV WBKP 2023 WBUP 2023 Victoria Texas KMOL-LD 2017 NBC KVCT Fox KUNU-LD 2017 Univision KAVU-TV 2017 ABC KQZY-LD 2017 Cozi TV KXTS-LD 2017 CBS KVTX-LD 2017 Telemundo Spokane Washington KXLY-TV 1961 ABC KXMN-LD 2007 ABC Yakima KAPP ** 1970 ABC Kennewick KVEW ** 1970 ABC La Crosse–Eau Claire Wisconsin WKBT-DT 2000 CBS Madison WISC-TV ** 1956
Former television stations Media market State Station Purchased Sold Notes Fargo North Dakota KTHI-TV 1968 1995
Other properties Idaho Radio 1080 KVNI - adult contemporary (Coeur d'Alene, run by Queen B Broadcasting of Spokane, Washington)
Michigan Radio Houghton 1400 WCCY - top 40 96.3 WHBS — adult contemporary 97.7 WOLV-FM - classic hits 102.3 WHKB - country Iron River 1230 WFER - classic country 99.1 WIKB-FM - classic hits
Wisconsin Radio Platteville (serving Dubuque, Iowa) 1590 WPVL - sports 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 (as a silent partner with Good Karma Brands) 620 WTMJ - news/talk and sports play-by-play 1510 WGKB - local talk radio for Milwaukee's black community 94.5 WKTI - local sports and some play-by-play
Print Madison Magazine
Washington Radio Queen B Broadcasting (Spokane): 700 KXLX - sports 920 KXLY - news/talk 92.9 KZZU - adult top 40 94.5 KHTQ - active rock 96.9 KEZE - rhythmic top 40 99.9 KXLY-FM - country
References
External links Official site