Barrington Broadcasting Group, LLC, headquartered in

Schaumburg, Illinois Schaumburg ( ) is a village mostly in Cook County and partly in DuPage County in northeastern Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 Census, the population was 78,723. Schaumburg is around northwest of the Chicago Loop and northwest of O'Hare I ...

was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

corporation focused on

broadcast television Broadcast television systems (or terrestrial television systems outside the US and Canada) are the encoding or formatting systems for the transmission and reception of terrestrial television signals. Analog television systems were standardized b ...

, primarily in middle and small size

media market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...

s. Barrington owned or operated via

duopoly A duopoly (from Greek δύο, ''duo'' "two" and πωλεῖν, ''polein'' "to sell") is a type of oligopoly where two firms have dominant or exclusive control over a market. It is the most commonly studied form of oligopoly due to its simplicit ...

twenty-four television stations, with the potential to reach 3.4 percent of households in the U.S. It was owned by Pilot Group, a

private equity firm A private equity firm is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of startup or operating companies through a variety of loosely affiliated investment strategies including leve ...

History

Barrington Broadcasting was formed in May 2003 by a group of former

Benedek Broadcasting Benedek Broadcasting was a television broadcasting company, who owned and operated 22 network-affiliated television stations throughout the United States, all affiliated with major television networks, serving mainly small and medium-size markets. ...

executives. With Benedek filed for bankruptcy and divested itself of all television properties in 2002, former President K. James Yager along with Senior Vice-Presidents Chris Cornelius, Keith Bland and Mary Flodin, pooled their talents to create a new company focused solely on medium and small market broadcasting. The company began operations in January 2004 with its purchases of former Benedek stations WHOI-TV (

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and the largest city on the Illinois River. As of the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census, the city had a population of 113,150. It is the principal city of the Peoria ...

) and

KHQA-TV KHQA-TV (channel 7) is a television station licensed to Hannibal, Missouri, United States, serving the Quincy, Illinois–Hannibal, Missouri–Keokuk, Iowa market as an affiliate of CBS and ABC. The station is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Gro ...

(

Hannibal, Missouri Hannibal is a city along the Mississippi River in Marion and Ralls counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 17,312, making it the largest city in Marion County. The bulk of the city is in Mario ...

Quincy, Illinois Quincy ( ), known as Illinois's "Gem City", is a city in and the county seat of Adams County, Illinois, United States, located on the Mississippi River. The 2020 census counted a population of 39,463 in the city itself, down from 40,633 in 2010. ...

) along with

WEYI-TV WEYI-TV (channel 25), branded on-air as NBC 25, is a television station licensed to Saginaw, Michigan, United States, serving northeastern Michigan as an affiliate of NBC. It is owned by Howard Stirk Holdings, which maintains a shared services ...

in Vienna Township, Michigan. Barrington grew slowly at first, adding five more stations between 2004 and early 2006. A major expansion took place on March 27, 2006, when

Raycom Media Raycom Media, Inc. was an American television broadcasting company based in Montgomery, Alabama. Raycom owned and/or provided services for 65 television stations and two radio stations across 44 markets in 20 states. Raycom, through its Commun ...

agreed to sell twelve of its network-affiliated TV stations to Barrington for $262 million. The sale was completed on August 11. In recent years, Barrington has been at the forefront of integrating social media and the internet into their on-air content. In late 2012, it was announced that Pilot Group had put Barrington up for sale and that both

Nexstar Broadcasting Group Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarter offices in Irving, Texas; Midtown Manhattan; and Chicago, Illinois. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 te ...

and

Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, t ...

were in final talks to acquire the full regiment of stations. On February 28, 2013, Barrington announced that it would sell its stations to Sinclair. The sale was granted FCC approval on November 18. The transaction was formally consummated on November 25.

Former Barrington-owned stations

Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state and

city of license In American, 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 broa ...

. ''Notes:'' * (**) – ''Indicates that it was acquired by Barrington Broadcasting as its founding stations.'' * (++) – ''Indicates a station acquired from

in 2006.'' Other Notes: *¹ Owned by Tucker Broadcasting, Barrington operated WGTU under a

Local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it is a sort of lease or tim ...

. *² Owned by

Granite Broadcasting Granite Broadcasting LLC is a broadcasting holding company in New York City which owns one television station in the United States, in Syracuse, New York. Granite was founded by W. Don Cornwell and Stuart Beck in 1988,

, Barrington operated WTVH under a Local marketing agreement. *³ Owned by

SagamoreHill Broadcasting SagamoreHill Broadcasting LLC is a privately held American holding company that owns 13 television stations based in the Great Lakes and southern United States regions. The company is a joint venture of the investment firm Duff Ackerman & Goodric ...

, Barrington operated WWMB under a Local marketing agreement.

Company Management

* K. James Yager - Chief Executive Officer * Christoper H. Cornelius - Chief Operating Officer *

Warren Spector Warren Evan Spector (born October 2, 1955) is an American role-playing and video game designer, director, writer, producer and production designer. He is known for creating immersive sim games, which give players a wide variety of choices in how ...

, Chief Financial Officer * Mary L. Flodin - Senior Vice President of Finance & Administration * Keith L. Bland - Senior Vice President, Acquisitions & Development *James Clark - President & CEO, Barrington Interactive

Company Employees

* Brian Bauer - VP & GM - Interactive Division

References

{{SBGI, state=collapsed Defunct broadcasting companies of the United States American companies established in 2004 Companies based in Cook County, Illinois Schaumburg, Illinois Sinclair Broadcast Group Mass media companies established in 2004 Mass media companies disestablished in 2013 2013 disestablishments in Illinois 2013 mergers and acquisitions