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The Outlet Company

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The Outlet Company
Company typePublic
Industry
Founded1891; 135 years ago (1891)
Founder
  • Joseph Samuels
  • Leon Samuels
DefunctTemplate:End date and age
FateTelevision stations acquired by NBC
Headquarters
Providence, Rhode Island
,
United States

The Outlet Company was an enterprise headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, holding assets in both the retail and broadcasting sectors. Its primary assets included its flagship Providence department store (The Outlet) and the Providence-based radio and television stations WJAR.

Retail

File:Outlet-Providence-ca1910.jpg
The Outlet Company, Providence, Rhode Island, circa 1910

Established in 1891 by brothers Joseph and Leon Samuels, The Outlet Company began as a department store located at 176 Weybosset Street in downtown Providence. The store, known simply as The Outlet, quickly became a prominent local institution, eventually occupying an entire city block and drawing customers from throughout southern New England. For many years, the business maintained its strength through its single flagship store, dominating the retail landscape not only in Providence but across Rhode Island.

As retail trends evolved during the mid-20th century, the company expanded by opening suburban branches and acquiring existing stores such as Philadelphia's Phillipsborn and Bedya, the Hughes & Hatcher chain in the Midwest, and The Edw. Malley Co. department stores in New Haven, Connecticut. However, under the direction of company president Bruce Sundlun, the focus shifted toward building a broadcasting portfolio. Consequently, Outlet exited the retail sector in November 1980. In 1981, the original downtown store along with other retail locations were sold to United Department Stores. The flagship Weybosset Street location closed its doors in 1982. This building was later destroyed by fire on October 16, 1986.[1]

Broadcasting

Following a common trend among northeastern department stores during the 1920s, The Outlet Company ventured into radio broadcasting to promote its merchandise to a broader audience. In 1922, it launched WJAR radio station, which in 1926 became the first affiliate of the NBC Red Network.[2] The company expanded into television broadcasting in 1949 with the debut of WJAR-TV on channel 11; this station switched to channel 10 in 1953.

Throughout the 1960s and subsequent decades, alongside its retail operations, Outlet significantly broadened its broadcasting footprint. After divesting from retail, the firm attempted a merger with Columbia Pictures which did not succeed before being acquired in 1984 by members of the Rockefeller family. Two years later, ownership transferred again,[3] this time to a group consisting of Outlet executives and venture capital investors who rebranded it as Outlet Communications. They initiated a full exit from radio broadcasting followed by reducing their television holdings to three stations. In early 1996, NBC purchased Outlet along with its three owned stations plus control over two additional ones; the Outlet name persisted briefly as a licensing entity for these former stations.

A decade later, on January 9, 2006, NBC placed all three stations on the market. On April 6, 2006, Media General acquired them—the transaction was completed on June 26, 2006.[4] This effectively reversed the NBC-Outlet merger that had taken place ten years earlier.

Former stations

  • Stations are listed alphabetically by state and their city of license.
  • A pair of bold asterisks (**) following a station's call sign signifies it was established and initially launched by The Outlet Company.
Stations once owned by The Outlet Company
Media market State Station Acquisition Year Divestiture Year Remarks
Los Angeles California KIQQ 1977 1986
Sacramento KOVR 1978 1986
Washington, D.C. District of Columbia WMMJ 1983 1986
WTOP 1978 1993
Orlando Florida WDBO 1963 1982
WDBO-FM 1963 1982
WDBO-TV 1963 1986 [lower-alpha 1]
Atlanta Georgia WATL 1985 1989
Indianapolis Indiana WXIN 1984 1989 [lower-alpha 2]
Detroit Michigan WQRS-FM 1979 1986
Syracuse New York WNYS-TV 1971 1978
Raleigh–Durham North Carolina WNCN 1993 1996 [lower-alpha 3]
Columbus Ohio WCMH-TV 1976 1996
Philadelphia Pennsylvania WIOQ 1979 1989
Providence Rhode Island WJAR ** 1922 1980
WJAR-FM ** 1948 1953 [lower-alpha 4]
WJAR-TV ** 1949 1996
WSNE 1980 1986
San Antonio Texas KSAT-TV 1968 1986
  1. ↑ Renamed WCPX-TV beginning in 1982.
  2. ↑ Prior to 1985, known as WPDS-TV.
  3. ↑ Previously WYED before 1994.
  4. ↑ Operations ceased in 1953.

In the year 1994, Outlet entered into local marketing agreements with the emerging broadcaster Fant Broadcasting, which operated stations located in two markets where Outlet had presence. These stations functioned as affiliates of the WB network while under Outlet's management:

After acquiring the remaining three Outlet stations, NBC maintained its association with the Fant-operated stations until arranging a three-way transaction in which Fant sold these two stations to the original Viacom's Paramount Stations Group. In exchange, NBC obtained Viacom/Paramount's station WVIT located in New Britain, Connecticut in 1997. Following this deal, Viacom/Paramount added secondary affiliations with its UPN network but was required to continue operating WLWC and WWHO primarily as WB affiliates until the year 2000. At that time, UPN became their main affiliation while WB shifted to secondary status. The two stations parted ways in March of 2005 when Viacom sold WWHO to LIN TV. Both WLWC and WWHO transitioned to The CW network affiliations upon the merger of UPN and WB networks in Fall of 2006. As of the year 2013, WWHO is operated under a shared services agreement by Sinclair Broadcast Group—the current owner of WJAR—while WLWC is owned by OTA Broadcasting (a subsidiary of Dell Capital led by Michael Dell), having been owned outright by Sinclair for just over one year.

External links

Notes

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