by David William Olivas

Popularly known as (self-proclaimed) The First Choice in the industry, Hearst Television Incorporated is a major broadcast company with diverse holdings in a wide variety of geographic markets and active interests all fields of entertainment. The company was founded in 1997 as the Hearst-Argyle Company but is recognized as part of its father Hearst Corporation venture founded by William Randolph Hearst in 1928 (a company today with interests in newspapers, magazines, networks, TV stations, publishing, cable networks, internet businesses, and real estate). HTV owns and operates two radio stations and thirty television stations, predominately affiliated with either ABC or NBC Universal Television Distribution, and has also recently become a leading contender for the future of internet broadcasting. It is a nationally renowned newscasting company with a long history of award-winning journalism, once feared as much as Rupurt Murdoch’s News Corp was in recent years, now known only for its long standing loyalty to their clients. The company operates out of the Hearst Tower in Manhattan, New York City.

“We have grown from a single flagship newspaper in San Francisco to a New York-based global media and information leader whose 24/7 reach extends to more than 100 countries and whose voice speaks in over 35 languages. We are truly, as our 125th anniversary ad campaign says, “Media that moves the world.”

-Frank Bennack Jr, CEO

Hearst Corporation’s 125^th Anniversary

Location

Hearst Tower
300 West 57th Street, 959 8th Avenue
Manhattan, New York City, New York
Tel: (212) 887-6800
Fax: (212) 887-6855
http://www.hearsttelevision.com/
Key Executives

David J. Barrett President & CEO
Jordan Wertlieb Executive Vice President
Frank Biancuzzo Senior Vice President
John J. Drain Senior Vice President, Finance
Roger Keating Senior Vice President
Philip M. Stolz Senior Vice President
Candy Altman Vice President, News
Brian Bracco Vice President, News
Emerson Coleman Vice President, Programming
Martin Faubell Vice President, Engineering
Suzanne Grethen Vice President, Marketing & Promotion
Kathleen Keefe Vice President, Sales
Alvin Lustgarten Vice President, Administration and IT
Barbara Maushard Vice President, News
Jonathan Mintzer Vice President, Corporate Secretary
Jeana Stanley Vice President of Financial Planning

 

History

The now-subsidiary company was incepted in the mid-eighties by founder and father George Hearst (1820–1891)–at the time, a U.S. senator. He entered the world of newspaper as a publisher in 1880 by acquiring the rights to the San Francisco Daily Examiner, and seven even years later he gave  the paper to his son William Randolph Hearst, who transformed the Examiner into The Monarch of the Dallies in 1887. William Randolph Hearst made it a point to buy and utilize the most modern printing equipment available to a late eighties publisher and, through the combination of his modernization efforts and the best known journalists and upstanding journalism around, completely transformed the paper into the legendary force it is today. Suffice it to say, the Examiner was a financial success and powerful influence within years. Then, in 1895, William Randolph Hearst bought the rights to popular publication The New York Journal, and his newspaper dynasty skyrocketed into a new era of big corporation publication. Before 1920, his chain of influence would reach from coast to coast.

Assets

As a television player, Hearst owns the largest number of ABC-affiliated stations and the second largest number of NBC-affiliated stations in the business with regards to size of audience reached (18% of total households in the United States). Hearst TV broadcasts all over the country. It also operates two radio stations in Baltimore, WBAL (Channel 1090) and WIYY (Channel 97.9). Hearst is known predominately for its finely tuned, hard-hitting newscasts, but also for engaging audiences through popular entertainment television and a variety local programming. As of 2012, the Hearst name extends to a sum of exactly twenty nine television stations. Ten of those are affiliated with NBC, thirteen with ABC, two through either CBS and CW, and finally a single MyNetworkTV affiliate. Its most recent inter-corporation acquisitions (originally a part of Hearst Broadcasting Inc.) are television stations KCWE, WMOR-TV, and WPBF, as well as radio stations WBAL radio and WIYY, all of these movements taking place 2009.

Recent Activity

In 2009 the company blocked public access to their financial records (21). Since then there has been no public release of any kind as to how the Television division of Hearst Corporation is doing financially. More so, in the fall quarter of 2012, Hearst Television managed to keep out of the news altogether from August 26^th to November 15^th. Starting on the 15^th, however, the company was thrown back into the public eye when they released several statements addressing the state of their changing corporation, announced quite a few positional transitions and promotions within their subsidiaries, and made headlines alongside a few of the broader-spectrum changes in 2012 that were sweeping the world of mass media.

On the 15^th, Hearst Television’s Joe Addalia was chosen to publicly respond to the implication of a new CALM Act, which would require commercial-making advertisers to comply with clear cut, mandatory auditory limits in order to provide family consumers with quieter programming. Many broadcast companies reacted negatively, knee deep in the backlash from their advertising interests. However, Hearst (and Mr. Addalia) responded positively, re-stating their unwavering stance on loyalty to their long-time consumers and their goad of embracing the changes head on. (1)

On November 30^th, John L. Humphries was promoted to President and General Manager of Hearst Television’s WGAL station in Lancaster Pennsylvania. Humphries previously held a powerful position at Hearst Television’s Greenville, South Carolina station WYFF. (2) Also on November 30^th, Brian Bracco (former station group Vice President) was named the new Vice President and General Manager of an NBC affiliate in Kansas City as well as a smaller station in Lawrence, Kansas. (3)

 

 

Two other staff changes only now being released in late Fall are that of Jordan Wertlieb’s new Presidency and David J. Barrett’s new position as Chairman, both of the Hearst Television as a whole. Frank A. Bennack, CEO of the company, said this with regard to the two promotions. “I congratulate [them] on [their] new roles and look forward to [their] continued stewardship of the expansion and success of Hearst Television.” (20)

Scheduled for Friday, December 7^th, the 27th annual WTAE-TV Project Bundle-Up Telethon will continue Hearst Television’s tradition of senior citizen and children oriented community service in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, through a day-long telethon that won’t interrupt regularly scheduled programming. The details of Project Bundle-Up were announced through the WTAE website as well as a brief history of the project and summation of the Hearst media legacy. Sponsored by the Salvation Army, the telethon will feature an hour-long weather special as volunteers accept call-in pledges, and all proceeds go towards the Salvation Army. In the 27-year history of this program, more than 11 million dollars have been raised. (4) On an interesting side note, this year, the NFL Pittsburgh Steelers decided to team up with Hearst to help a younger audience shop for their winter coats.

1. http://broadcastengineering.com/audio/hearst-television-targets-calm-compliance-29-stations
2. http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/63884/john-humphries-tapped-to-be-wgal-gm
3. http://www.mediabistro.com/tvspy/kshb-names-brian-bracco-general-manager_b71602
4. http://www.wtae.com/news/27th-Annual-WTAE-TV-Project-Bundle-Up-Telethon-Airs-Friday-December-7th/-/9681432/17608332/-/g89qsg/-/index.html
5. http://www.mediabistro.com/tvspy/david-j-barrett-named-chairman-jordan-wertlieb-named-president-of-hearst-television_b72342
6. http://www.hearsttelevision.com/our_company/timeline/index.html
7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Randolph_Hearst
8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearst_Television
9. http://www.hearsttelevision.com/our_company/about_Our_Company/index.html
10. http://bit.ly/TFSCo0
11. http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/64044/barrett-wertlieb-upped-at-hearst-TV
12. http://broadcastengineering.com/audio/hearst-television-targets-calm-compliance-29-stations
13. http://www.kansascity.com/2012/11/30/3942329/former-kmbc-boss-bracco-now-kshb.html
14. http://www.deadline.com/2012/12/hearst-television-david-barret/
15. http://www.hearstfdn.org/
16. http://www.hearstfdn.org/about/about-hearst-foundations/
17. http://www.hearstfdn.org/about/william-randolph-h earst/
18. http://www.hearsttelevision.com/our_company/our_stations/index.html
19. http://www.hearsttelevision.com/our_company/timeline/index.html
20. https://plus.google.com/117276923788526037867/posts
21. http://www.hearsttelevision.com/financial-information/index.html