Lincoln Financial Media was a subsidiary of

Lincoln National Corporation Lincoln National Corporation is a ''Fortune'' 250 American holding company A holding company is a company (law), company that owns the Shares outstanding, outstanding stock of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods ...

that owned

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and telecommunication, communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device ...

radio

stations in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. The division was formed in 2006 following the company's acquisition of Jefferson-Pilot's television and radio operations, which were renamed Lincoln Financial Media. The group, at the time of its closure, owned 14 radio stations in

Miami, Florida Miami (), officially the City of Miami, is a metropolis located in in southeastern , . With a population of 467,963 as of the , it is the 44th-largest city in the United States and the core of the nation's eighth-largest metropolitan area. Th ...

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city in the U.S. state of California on the coast of the Pacific Ocean and immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border, Mexican border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, San Diego is the List of United ...

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital Capital most commonly refers to: * Capital letter Letter case (or just case) is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (or more forma ...

, and

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta () is the capital city, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. With an estimated 2019 population of 506,811, it is also the List of United ...

. It also owned WBT, WBT-FM, and WLNK (FM) in Charlotte, North Carolina and

WBTV WBTV, virtual channel In most telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over , radio, , or other systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over ...

, the

CBS CBS is 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 The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S ...

CBS

affiliate in Charlotte;

WCSC-TV WCSC-TV, virtual channel 5 (ultra high frequency, UHF digital terrestrial television, digital channel 19), is a CBS-network affiliate, affiliated television station city of license, licensed to Charleston, South Carolina, United States. The statio ...

, the CBS affiliate in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, South Carolina, Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston metropolitan area, South Carolina, Charleston–North Charle ...

and

WWBT WWBT, virtual channel In most telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over , radio, , or other systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over ...

, the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is 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 The United States of America (USA), c ...

affiliate in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label ...

. All three of the aforementioned TV stations are now owned by successor company

Gray Television Gray Television, Inc. is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta () is the capital city, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city of the U.S. st ...

History

The media company began in 1945 as Jefferson Standard Broadcasting Company, Inc., which became Jefferson-Pilot Communications in 1968. The company was a media-centered division of the Jefferson Standard Insurance Company of

Greensboro Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or Parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is used in Canada, C ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * The State (newspaper), ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily news ...

, which later merged with Pilot Life Insurance Company to form Jefferson-Pilot. Jefferson-Pilot owned WBT-AM- FM and

, all of which are based in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city The United Nations uses three definitions for what constitutes a city, as not all cities in all jurisdictions are classified using the same criteria. Cities may be defined as the city proper, cities p ...

. In 1962, the company conceived Jefferson Productions (later Jefferson Pilot Teleproductions, later

Jefferson Pilot Sports Raycom Sports is an American producer of sports television programs. It is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte () is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located ...

), a production arm that produced television programs and commercials, but later chose to produce

syndicated Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, w ...

sports programming only by the 1980s. It was originally intended to produce promos and local television shows for WBTV but had since grown to produce nationally syndicated talk shows and variety shows; and mainly commercials for major companies that aired nationwide.BT Memories-Jefferson Productions
/ref> For further information, see the section " Lincoln Financial Sports" at the end of this article. In April 2006, the Jefferson-Pilot Corporation merged with the

; taking the media and sports broadcasting division with it, Jefferson-Pilot Communications became Lincoln Financial Media. In June 2007, the company publicly announced it would explore a sale of this division, and hired

Merrill Lynch Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management Investment management is the professional asset management Asset management refers to a system ...

to assess its strategic options. On November 12, 2007,

Raycom Media Raycom Media, Inc. was an American television Television, sometimes shortened to TV or telly, is a telecommunication Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire A wire is a ...

announced that it would acquire Lincoln Financial Media's three television stations, along with the Lincoln Financial Sports division (which was folded into

Raycom Sports Raycom Sports is an American producer of sports television programs. It is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and owned and operated by Gray Television. It was founded in 1979 by husband and wife, Rick and Dee Ray. In the 1980s, Raycom ...

, then into

) for $583 million. The acquisition was completed in April 2008. On December 8, 2014, Entercom (rebranded

Audacy, Inc. Audacy, Inc. is a publicly traded American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the United States The United States of America (USA), commonly known as ...

as of March 30, 2021) announced its intent to acquire the remainder of Lincoln Financial Media for $110 million and

working capital Working capital (abbreviated WC) is a financial metric which represents operating liquidity available to a business, organization, or other entity, including governmental entities. Along with fixed assets such as plant and equipment, working capi ...

. To comply with ownership limits, Entercom was to divest one of its existing stations in Denver. Later, Entercom announced it would swap four of its stations in Denver to Bonneville International in exchange for KSWD in Los Angeles. The merger was completed on July 17 and Bonneville and Entercom began operating their new clusters under time-brokerage agreements that same day.

Former stations

This list also contains stations that were owned by Lincoln Financial Media's predecessor Jefferson-Pilot Communications, before its merger in 2006.

Television

Note: * (**) – ''Indicates that it was built and signed on by Lincoln Financial Media's predecessor Jefferson-Pilot''.

Radio

Lincoln Financial Sports

Lincoln Financial Sports, originally

Jefferson-Pilot Lincoln National Corporation is a ''Fortune'' 250 American holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not pr ...

Teleproductions (later

), produced and syndicated college sports events of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference An athletic conference is a collection of sports team A sports team is a group of individuals who play sport Sport pertains to any form of Competition, comp ...

, and co-produced

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Co ...

sporting events with

. It also produced telecasts of pre-season games of the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron, is a team sport A team sport includes any s ...

, and in the 1980s, syndicated coverage of the

NASCAR#REDIRECT NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing found m ...

NASCAR

Winston Cup The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is be ...

races at

Charlotte Motor Speedway Charlotte Motor Speedway is a motorsport Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive Sports, sporting events which primarily involve the use of motor vehicles, motorised vehicles, whet ...

. On November 12, 2007, Lincoln Financial Group announced the sale of this division to

. The group would later operate under the

banner as of January 1, 2008.

References

External links

Lincoln Financial Group site
{{NASCAR on television and radio Defunct broadcasting companies of the United States Defunct radio broadcasting companies of the United States Audacy, Inc. Gray Television NASCAR on television