1980s In 1980,
Emmis Broadcasting founder
Jeffrey Smulyan purchased his first radio station,
WSVL-FM Shelbyville, Indiana. In July 1981, Smulyan changed the format from country music to adult contemporary and renamed the station
WENS and later to
WLHK. In 1982, Emmis acquired
WLOL in
Minneapolis and quickly became a top contender for ratings. Around 1984, the company bought Magic 106 in
Los Angeles, California; at the time,
L.A. Lakers player
"Magic" Johnson was an early spokesperson for the station. Emmis also bought
KSHE in St. Louis in the same year. In early 1986, Emmis changed Magic 106, which focused on traditional top 40 rock, to Power 106
KPWR, which would focus on dance, top40, and shock-jock talk. In 1987, Emmis made a series of purchases including
WQHT,
WYNY, and
WNBC in New York,
WKQX in Chicago,
WJIB in Boston, WKUU and
KXXX in San Francisco, and
KKHT in Houston. They also acquired
WAVA-FM in Washington, D.C. from the
Doubleday Broadcasting Company. Both KPWR and WQHT would pioneer the urban contemporary rhythmic format. Emmis transformed WHN into the world's first
all-sports radio station,
WFAN. In 1988, Emmis entered the world of publishing. Emmis purchased
Indianapolis Monthly and added WKQX in Chicago to its radio portfolio. Also, Emmis acquired five
NBC radio stations in 1988. Chairman and CEO
Jeff Smulyan purchased the
Seattle Mariners Major League Baseball team in 1989.
1990s Emmis kicked off the 1990s by selling KKHT-FM in Houston to Nationwide Communications in May 1990. In 1991, Emmis sold two more stations: WLOL to Minnesota Public Radio and
KXXX, San Francisco, to Alliance Broadcasting. Also in 1991, KMGG became
KPWR, "Power 106" and became the first rhythmic contemporary-focused top 40 formatted outlet. In 1992, Emmis sold WFAN, New York, to Infinity for
US$70M, which was one of the highest prices ever paid for an AM radio station. Emmis also sold WAVA-FM, Washington D.C., to Salem Broadcasting and WJIB, Boston, to Greater Media. In the same year, Jeff Smulyan sold the Seattle Mariners to Nintendo. Emmis grew its publishing portfolio by adding Atlanta Magazine in 1993. In the same year, Emmis launched its second hip hop station in America,
Hot 97. Emmis' Q101 in Chicago moved into an Alternative Rock Format. In 1994, the company purchased WIBC (now
WFNI) and WKLR (now
WIBC (FM)) in
Indianapolis from the Horizon Broadcast Corporation and
WRKS in
New York City from the Summit Communications Group. WKLR was changed from an oldies format to a classic hits format with the call letters of WNAP-FM in September 1994. Emmis became a
public company, EMMS on
NASDAQ, with an IPO on March 4, 1994. The following year, 1995, WQHT and KPWR were among the top rated radio station in each of their markets. This resulted in a record-breaking accomplishment where Emmis was the first company to own top rated radio stations in the top 2 markets. Emmis entered the world of international radio in 1997 when the company was awarded a license to operate in
Hungary, Sláger Radio, which debuted #1 nationwide and remained the country's most popular national radio station until the Hungarian government revoked the license in 2009. Emmis added
Cincinnati Magazine to its publishing group, as well as
KIHT-FM and KPNT-FM in St. Louis to its rock collection. In 1998, Emmis Broadcasting changed its name to Emmis Communications and moved into its current headquarters on
Monument Circle in Indianapolis. Emmis acquired a lot of media in the same year including Texas Monthly, WRXP in New York,
WTHI and
WWVR in Terre Haute, and six television stations in Honolulu, New Orleans, Green Bay, and Mobile, Alabama, from SF Broadcasting and in Terre Haute, Indiana, and Ft. Myers, Florida, from Wabash Valley Broadcasting RadioNow was launched in Indianapolis as a Top 40 format. Emmis purchased Country Sampler Magazine in 1999 and Liberty Media purchased 2.7 million shares of Emmis for approximately $150M.
2000s In 2005, Emmis changed the format of its first radio station from its long-term adult contemporary format to country, and the call letters were changed from WENS to
WLHK. Emmis was also named one of
Fortunes 100 Best Companies to Work For. In March of that year, Emmis Communications and 98.7 KISS-FM, New York, celebrated
Women's History Month by introducing their first annual salute to Phenomenal Women (also referred to as the Phenomenal Woman Awards). From 2005 to 2013 Emmis owns three radio networks in
Bulgaria:
Radio FM+, Radio Fresh! and Star FM. In 2006, Emmis flipped
KZLA Los Angeles to
Adult Rhythmic Contemporary as "KMVN, Movin' 93.9". The move gave Emmis a companion station to complement KPWR. However, on April 15, 2009, KMVN switched to Spanish-language programming,
KXOS, under a seven-year Local Marketing Agreement with Grupo Radio Centro of Mexico City. On June 9, 2009, Emmis announced it had formed a strategic alliance with StreamTheWorld, the radio industry's streaming technology and services company, to put all Emmis radio stations on a new streaming platform.
2010s On January 12, 2011, the share price of Emmis stock surged 42% as insiders speculated that the company could be close to selling off several of its radio stations. In its January 2011 filing with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, the company reported that it had the necessary cash to survive through February 2011. "Absent asset sales, which the company is actively pursuing," Emmis attorneys stated in the regulatory filing, "the company believes it is unlikely it will be able to maintain compliance with the financial covenants after Sept. 1, 2011". On August 16, 2013, Emmis launched the NextRadio smartphone app on HTC One Android phones from
Sprint. A deal struck between the radio industry and Sprint facilitated the launch which subsequently enabled FM radio support for the app on additional Android devices available on the Sprint wireless network. On October 12, 2016, Emmis announced that it would sell its radio stations in the Terre Haute cluster to Midwest Communications and DLC Media. Midwest Communications would acquire
WTHI-FM and the intellectual property of
WWVR while DLC Media would acquire
WFNF,
WFNB and the broadcast license for
WWVR. Midwest Communications would also sell
WDKE to DLC Media to stay under FCC ownership limits. The sale was consummated on January 27, 2017. On March 1, 2017, Emmis announced it had sold four of its magazines (
Atlanta,
Cincinnati,
Los Angeles, and
Orange Coast) to Hour Media Group, LLC for $6.5 million. It also sold
Texas Monthly to Genesis Park, LP for $25 million. On May 9, 2017, Emmis announced that it would sell
KPWR to The Meruelo Group for $82.75 million. The announcement came after Emmis made a deal in April with its lenders to seek $80 million worth of divestments by January 2018 to amend its credit agreement. The Meruelo Group began operating the station under an LMA on July 1, 2017, until the sale was consummated on August 1, 2017. On January 30, 2018, Emmis announced it would leave the St. Louis market, selling
KSHE and
KPNT to
Hubbard Broadcasting, and
KFTK and
KNOU to
Entercom. In June 2019, Emmis announced that it would sell its controlling stake in its Austin stations to its minority partner Sinclair Telecable Inc. (d/b/a Sinclair Communications, unrelated to
Sinclair Broadcast Group). On July 1, 2019, Emmis announced that it would sell its New York City stations
WQHT and
WBLS to Mediaco Holding—an affiliate of
Standard General—for $91.5 million, a $5 million
promissory note, and a 23.72% stake in the new company. Mediaco Holding will be a public company, and Emmis will continue to manage the stations. The sale was completed November 25, 2019.
2020s On March 11, 2020, Emmis announced that it had purchased sound masking technology company Lencore Acoustics. On April 24, 2020, Emmis announced that it would voluntarily delist from the
Nasdaq, citing cost-saving concerns. On June 13, 2022, Emmis announced it will sell its Indianapolis radio properties to
Urban One for an undisclosed amount. In December 2022, Emmis sold
Indianapolis Monthly to Hour Media for an undisclosed amount. == Company portfolio ==