Schurz Communications

Schurz Communications, Inc. is an American broadband media group and cloud services provider based in South Bend, Indiana. It previously owned newspapers and television stations.

Schurz Communications, Inc.

Company type	Private
Industry	Broadband, cloud services provider
Founded	1872
Founder	Alfred B. Miller and Elmer Crockett
Successor	Gray Television (television assets only) Gannett (newspaper assets only)
Key people	Todd F. Schurz (President and CEO)
Website	www.schurz.com

History

The company was founded in 1872 by Alfred B. Miller and Elmer Crockett with the creation of the South Bend Tribune. Over the years, the company grew through the acquisition of other newspapers, media outlets, radio and television stations, digital companies, broadband operations and cloud services provider. The expanding company was renamed Schurz Communications Inc. in 1976, when the newspapers division and the TV/broadcast division were split into separate entities.^[1]

Schurz Communications announced on September 14, 2015 that it would exit broadcasting and sell its television and radio stations, including the Rushmore Media Company stations, to Gray Television for $442.5 million.^[2][3][4] Gray subsequently announced on October 1 that it would sell the KOTA-TV license to Legacy Broadcasting for $1, a deal that also includes the license for satellite station KHSD-TV and the station's subchannel affiliations with MeTV and This TV;^{[5] [6][7]} a month later, on November 2, Gray announced that HomeSlice Media Group would acquire the Rushmore Media Company radio stations for $2.2 million, reuniting them with KBHB and KKLS, which Schurz had sold to HomeSlice in 2014 as part of its acquisition of KOTA-TV.^[8][9][10] Following the completion of these sales, Gray will retain KOTA-TV's ABC affiliation and transfer it to its existing television station in Rapid City, KEVN-TV;^[6] it will also retain KOTA-TV satellite stations KDUH-TV and KSGW-TV and convert them to satellites of KNOP-TV in North Platte, Nebraska and KCWY-DT in Casper, Wyoming (both NBC affiliates), respectively.^[11]

In March 2015, the company sold the Imperial Valley Press newspaper based in El Centro, California.^[12]

In September 2016, The American News and Farm Forum, owned by Schurz, acquired The Public Opinion newspaper in Watertown, South Dakota from United Communications.^[13]

In February 2018, the company acquired the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Online Tech. The compliant hybrid cloud provider serves nearly 500 clients across the Midwest with its network of seven data centers and full suite of hybrid cloud services.^[14] In December of that year, Online Tech acquired the assets and products of IT provider Neverfail. The acquisition includes Neverfail’s five cloud nodes and assets in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.^[15]

In January 2019, Schurz sold its publishing division and all its newspapers to GateHouse Media for $30 million. This included 20 regional papers and several special publications in Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Pennsylvania and South Dakota. GateHouse later bought the Gannett newspaper chain, and the expanded network of newspapers adopted the Gannett name.^[16][17]

In March 2019 Schurz Communications bought the city-owned local broadband company Burlington Telecom of Burlington, Vermont for a total of $30.8 million.^[18]

Rushmore Media Company

Rushmore Media Company, Inc. was a small radio broadcasting subsidiary, which owned and operated four radio stations and one television station in the Black Hills region of western South Dakota. The main offices and stations' studios are located at 660 Flormann St., Rapid City, South Dakota 57701.

Rushmore Media Company's group consisted of:

• KRCS FM 93.1 "Today's Hottest Music"
• KKMK FM 93.9 "93.9 The Mix, The Black Hills Best Mix."
• KOUT FM 98.7 "The Black Hills' Favorite Country"
• KFXS FM 100.3 "Classic Rock 100.3 The Fox"
• KHME channel 3 (ABC) (formerly KOTA-TV, "KOTA Territory")
  • KDUH-TV channel 4 Scottsbluff, Nebraska (satellite of KHME)
  • KQME channel 11 Lead, South Dakota (satellite of KHME)
  • KSGW-TV channel 12 Sheridan, Wyoming (satellite of KHME)

Current properties

Schurz Communications' old logo

Broadband systems

• Antietam Broadband - Hagerstown, Maryland
• Burlington Telecom - Burlington, Vermont
• Hiawatha Broadband - Winona, Minnesota
• Long Lines Broadband - Sergeant Bluff, Iowa
• Orbitel Communications - Maricopa, Arizona

Cloud Managed Services

• Otava - Ann Arbor, Michigan

Former properties

Newspapers

• Imperial Valley Press - El Centro, California
• Times Mail - Bedford, Indiana
• Southside Times - Beech Grove, Indiana
• The Herald-Times - Bloomington, Indiana
• The Hoosier Topics - Cloverdale, Indiana
• Fishers Weekly - Fishers, Indiana
• Reporter-Times - Martinsville, Indiana
• Mooresville-Decatur Times - Mooresville, Indiana
• Noblesville Daily Times - Noblesville, Indiana
• South Bend Tribune - South Bend, Indiana
• Evening World - Spencer, Indiana
• The Advocate-Messenger - Danville, Kentucky
• The Jessamine Journal - Nicholasville, Kentucky
• The Interior Journal - Stanford, Kentucky
• The Winchester Sun - Winchester, Kentucky
• The Herald-Mail - Hagerstown, Maryland
• Charlevoix Courier - Charlevoix, Michigan
• Gaylord Herald Times - Gaylord, Michigan
• Petoskey News-Review - Petoskey, Michigan
• Daily American - Somerset, Pennsylvania
• The American News - Aberdeen, South Dakota
• The Public Opinion - Watertown, South Dakota

Radio

AM Station	FM Station

City of license / Market	Station	Years owned	Current ownership status
Lafayette, IN	WASK 1450	1991–2016	Owned by Neuhoff Communications
	WASK-FM 98.7	1995–2016	Owned by Neuhoff Communications
	WKHY 93.5	2005–2016	Owned by Neuhoff Communications
	WKOA 105.3	1991–2016	Owned by Neuhoff Communications
	WXXB 102.9	2005–2016	Owned by Neuhoff Communications
South Bend, IN	WSBT 960	1922–2016	Owned by Mid-West Family Broadcasting
	WNSN 101.5	1962–2016	Owned by Mid-West Family Broadcasting
	WZOC 94.3	2012–2016[a]	Owned by Mid-West Family Broadcasting
Benton Harbor, MI	WHFB-FM 99.9	2012–2016[a]	WQLQ, owned by Mid-West Family Broadcasting
Rapid City, SD	KKLS 920	2006–2014	Owned by HomeSlice Media Group
	KKMK 93.9	2006–2016	Owned by HomeSlice Media Group
	KOUT 98.7	2006–2016	Owned by HomeSlice Media Group
	KFXS 100.3	2006–2016	Owned by HomeSlice Media Group
Sturgis, SD	KBHB 810	2006–2014	Owned by HomeSlice Media Group
	KRCS 93.1	2006–2016	Owned by HomeSlice Media Group

1. Owned by Douglas Road Radio, Schurz held a minority interest in this company.

Television

• (**) – Indicates that it was built and signed on by Schurz.

City of license / Market	Station	Channel	Years owned	Current ownership status
Anchorage, AK	KTUU-TV	2	2008–2016	NBC affiliate owned by Gray Television
Augusta, GA	WAGT	26	1980–2016[a]	Defunct, license cancelled in 2017[b]
South Bend, IN	WSBT-TV **	22	1952–2016	CBS affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Hutchinson–Wichita, KS	KWCH-DT	12	2006–2016	CBS affiliate owned by Gray Television
	KSCW-DT	33	2007–2016	The CW affiliate owned by Gray Television
	KDCU-DT	31	[c]	Univision affiliate owned by Entravision Communications
Ensign, KS	KBSD-DT[A]	6	2006–2016	CBS affiliate owned by Gray Television
Goodland, KS	KBSL-DT[A]	10	2006–2016	CBS affiliate owned by Gray Television
Hays, KS	KBSH-DT[A]	7	2006–2016	CBS affiliate owned by Gray Television
Springfield, MO	KYTV	3	1987–2016	NBC affiliate owned by Gray Television
	K15CZ-D	15[d]	2002–2016	ABC affiliate KSPR-LD, owned by Gray Television
	KSPR/KGHZ	33[d]	2016–2017[e]	Defunct, license cancelled in 2017
Rapid City, SD	KOTA-TV	3	2014–2016	MeTV affiliate, KHME, owned by Gray Television[f]
Lead, SD	KHSD-TV[B]	11	2014–2016	MeTV affiliate, KQME, owned by Gray Television[g]
Scottsbluff, NE	KDUH-TV[B]	4	2014–2016	NBC affiliate KNEP in Sidney, Nebraska, owned by Gray Television[C]
Sheridan, WY	KSGW-TV[B]	12	2014–2016	ABC affiliate owned by Gray Television
Roanoke–Lynchburg, VA	WDBJ	7	1969–2016	CBS affiliate owned by Gray Television

1. Satellite of KWCH-DT.
2. Satellite of KOTA-TV.
3. Satellite of KNOP-TV.

1. Owned by Schurz, WAGT was operated by Media General under a shared services agreement, with WJBF.
2. Intellectual unit and NBC programming transferred to a Gray-owned license and renamed WAGT-CD.
3. Owned by Entravision Communications, Schurz operated KDCU under a shared services agreement, with KWCH and KSCW.
4. From February to May 2017, KGHZ used virtual channel 15, while K15CZ-D (later KYCW-LD, now KSPR-LD) switched to virtual channel 33.
5. Owned by Schurz, KGHZ was operated Gray Television operated KGHZ under a shared services agreement. From 2007 to 2016, KGHZ (as KSPR) was owned by Perkin Media, LLC. Schurz operated the station under a joint sales agreement.
6. Intellectual unit and ABC programming transferred to a Gray-owned license and renamed KOTA-TV.
7. Intellectual unit and ABC programming transferred to a Gray-owned license and renamed KHSD-TV.

See also

• Schurz Communications, Incorporated v. Federal Communications Commission and United States of America

References

1. "About". Schurz Communications Inc. Retrieved 2019-02-02.
2. "Gray TV to Buy Schurz Communications". AdWeek. September 14, 2015. Retrieved July 3, 2016.
3. "Schurz Communications to sell WSBT and other TV, radio stations". South Bend Tribune. September 14, 2015. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
4. Kuperberg, Jonathan (September 14, 2015). "Gray Acquiring TV, Radio Stations from Schurz for $442.5 Million". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
5. "Gray Television Divesting Radio Stations From Schurz Acquisition". Broadcasting & Cable. November 2, 2015. Retrieved July 3, 2016.
6. "Gray Television Sells Some, Buys Some". TVNewsCheck. October 1, 2015. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
7. "Summary of Interrelated Transactions" (PDF). CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. October 8, 2015.
8. "Gray Sells Radio Stations From Schurz Deal". TVNewsCheck. November 2, 2015. Retrieved November 2, 2015.
9. Venta, Lance (November 2, 2015). "Gray Television Divests Schurz Clusters To Three Buyers". RadioInsight. Retrieved November 2, 2015.
10. "HomeSlice Group purchases four Rapid City radio stations". Meade County Times-Tribune. November 2, 2015. Retrieved November 2, 2015.
11. "Comprehensive Exhibit" (PDF). CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. October 2015. Retrieved October 24, 2015.
12. "I.V. Press under new ownership; parts ways with Schurz". Imperial Valley Press. 2015-03-05. Retrieved 2024-09-07.
13. Perry, J. J. (2016-09-01). "SCI purchases Watertown, S.D., Public Opinion". Schurz Communications Inc. Retrieved 2019-02-02.
14. Admin (2018-02-05). "Schurz Communications Inc. Acquires Leading Hybrid Cloud Provider Online Tech". Schurz Communications Inc. Retrieved 2019-02-02.
15. Admin (2018-12-04). "Online Tech Acquires Neverfail's Global Cloud Infrastructure Business". Schurz Communications Inc. Retrieved 2019-02-02.
16. Admin (2019-01-28). "Schurz Communications Announces Sale of Publishing Division as Part of Global Technology Growth Strategy". Schurz Communications Inc. Retrieved 2019-02-02.
17. GateHouse Scoops Up 20 Local Newspapers In $30M Schurz Communications Deal, MediaPost, January 30, 2019, Retrieved February 17, 2019.
18. "Schurz Communications' Subsidiary Champlain Broadband Closes on Transaction to Acquire Burlington Telecom in Vermont". 13 March 2019.

External links

• Official website