Cunningham Broadcasting


Cunningham Broadcasting Corporation is an owner of broadcast television stations in the United States. The company currently owns fifteen stations – nine affiliated with Fox, three affiliated with The CW, two affiliated with ABC, and one affiliated with MyNetworkTV.
Cunningham has very close ties to the Sinclair Broadcast Group. All but one of the Cunningham stations are operated by Sinclair under local marketing agreements. In addition, over 90 percent of Cunningham's stock is controlled by trusts in the name of Sinclair founder Julian Smith's children. Based on these arrangements, Cunningham appears to be a shell corporation that Sinclair uses to circumvent Federal Communications Commission regulations on television station ownership.

History

Cunningham was formed in 1994 as Glencairn, Ltd. It was headed by Edwin Edwards, a former Sinclair executive who had been general manager of one of Sinclair's original stations, WPTT-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Sinclair sold WPTT to Edwards after Sinclair bought rival WPGH-TV, but continued to operate the station under a local marketing agreement before buying the station back outright in 2000.
The initial capital was supplied by Carolyn Smith, wife of Sinclair founder Julian Smith and mother of current Sinclair CEO David Smith. Carolyn Smith also controlled 70% of Glencairn's stock. However, Glencairn held itself out as a minority-owned broadcaster, gaining instant favor with the Federal Communications Commission.
Glencairn's initial purchase set the stage for its future dealings. In late 1993 or early 1994, Sinclair Broadcast Group merged with Abry Communications, which owned WNUV in Baltimore. WNUV had been the principal rival to Sinclair's flagship station, WBFF. Sinclair could not keep both stations because FCC rules at the time did not allow common ownership of two television stations in a single market. Accordingly, Glencairn bought WNUV from Sinclair, and the latter took over WNUV's operations under an LMA. However, due to the Smiths' controlling interest in Glencairn, Sinclair effectively had a duopoly in Baltimore – and had all but emasculated its principal rival.
Glencairn eventually bought ten more stations, and Sinclair controlled all their operations via local marketing agreements. Due to Glencairn's financial structure, Sinclair effectively had duopolies in all 11 markets in violation of the FCC media ownership rules at the time. Among the more notable purchases:
In 1999, the FCC finally relaxed its ownership rules and allowed one company to own two stations in the same market starting in 2001. Ironically, this development brought the Sinclair-Glencairn arrangement to light for the first time. At the time, Glencairn was getting ready to buy Sullivan-owned KOKH-TV in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where Sinclair already owned KOCB. When the FCC relaxed its rules, Sinclair simply replaced Glencairn as the buyer for KOKH. Glencairn then announced plans to sell five of its stations to Sinclair outright.
This move led Jesse Jackson and others to file challenges to the proposed transactions. In the course of subsequent hearings, it emerged that Edwards did not know how much debt Glencairn would assume when the deals were finalized. This led FCC Commissioner Michael Copps to question the deal's integrity, as well as Glencairn's decision-making process. It later emerged that Glencairn was to be paid for the proposed purchases with Sinclair stock, and that the Smiths controlled almost all of Glencairn's stock. Eventually, the FCC placed a $40,000 fine against Sinclair for illegally controlling Glencairn. However, it took no further action, leading Copps to blast the decision as a backhanded endorsement of Sinclair's tactics.

Glencairn becomes Cunningham

In 2001, Glencairn attempted to merge with Sinclair outright. However, the FCC rejected the deal because six of Glencairn's stations – WNUV, WVAH, WTTE, WBSC, WRGT-TV in Dayton, Ohio and WTAT-TV in Charleston, South Carolina – were located in markets where Sinclair could not legally have duopolies. The reasons stated:
Sinclair, however, was able to buy five of Glencairn's stations, and Glencairn subsequently changed its name to Cunningham Broadcasting, named after the widow of Sinclair's founder, Carolyn Cunningham Smith. However, nearly all of Cunningham's stock is owned by the estate of Carolyn C. Smith, which controls the trusts of her and Julian Sinclair Smith's four sons, and so Sinclair still effectively owns Cunningham. This situation led Sinclair Media Watch, a grassroots organization based in Asheville, to file informal objections when WLOS and WBSC's licenses came up for renewal in 2004. However, the FCC has taken no further action against Sinclair or Cunningham.

Stations currently owned by Cunningham Broadcasting

Stations are arranged alphabetically by state and by city of license.
City of license / marketStationChannel
TV 		Owned sinceNetwork affiliation
Bessemer - Birmingham, ALWDBB
17 1995The CW
Chico - ReddingKCVU20 2017Fox
Eureka, California - ArcataKBVU
28 2017Fox
Peoria - Bloomington, ILWYZZ-TV 143 2013Fox
Waterville - Portland, MEWPFO23 2017Fox
Baltimore, MDWNUV54 1994The CW
Bay City - Flint, MIWBSF46 2013The CW
Traverse City - Cadillac, MIWGTU46 2013ABC
Sault Ste. Marie, MIWGTQ
8 2013ABC
Reno, NVKRNV-DT4 2018NBC
Elko, NVKENV-DT10 2018Comet TV
Greenville - New Bern, NCWYDO14 2017Fox
Anderson - Greenville - Spartanburg, SCWMYA40 1997MyNetworkTV
Columbus, OHWTTE28 1997Fox
Dayton, OHWRGT-TV45 1997Fox
Johnstown - Altoona - State College, PAWATM-TV24 2016ABC
Johnstown - Altoona - State College, PAWWCP-TV8 2016Fox
Charleston, SCWTAT-TV24 1995Fox
Greenville - Dallas - Fort Worth, TXKTXD-TV47 2018Stadium
Greeneville - Kingsport, TN - Bristol, VAWEMT39 2017Fox
Charleston - Huntington, WVWVAH-TV11 1997Fox