WEZE, WCOP and NBC

[Garrett Wollman]

<<On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 09:30:46 -0500, Brian Vita <brian_vita@cssinc.com> said:

> Bit of trivia, GCC Communications was actually General Cinema Corp 
> (formerly Midwest Drive-Ins) out of Chestnut Hill.  At one point, in 
> addition to being one of the largest chains of cinemas, they were also 
> the largest distributor of Pepsi.  They started radio and, I believe, a 
> billboard division at the same time expanding their cinema chain.  

Notably, in 1991, they purchased the textbook publisher Harcourt,
Brace, Jovanovich, after which time the company was known as Harcourt
General.  My publishing-history timeline shows:

1919:Harcourt, Brace \& Co. established by former Henry Holt employees.
1969:Harcourt Brace Jovanovich acquires Academic Press.
1975:Harcourt Brace Jovanovich acquires Pyramid Books, renames to Jove.
1979:Harcourt Brace Jovanovich sells Jove to Putnam Berkley Group.
1987:CBS sells Holt, Rinehart \& Winston and W.B. Saunders to Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
1991:General Cinema acquires Harcourt, Brace \& Co.
1992-07-03:General Cinema changes name to Harcourt General.
1993:Harcourt General spins off General Cinema.
1994-11-01:Harcourt General sells insurance business to GE.
1997:Harcourt General acquires Churchill Livingstone from Pearson.
1997-06-10:Harcourt General acquires controlling interest in Steck-Vaughn.
1998:Harcourt General acquires Morgan Kaufmann.
1998-09-09:Harcourt General acquires medical publisher Mosby.
1999-10-22:Harcourt General spins off Neiman-Marcus.
2000-06-19:Harcourt General announces plans to "explore strategic
alternatives".
2000-10-27:Reed Elsevier announces takeover offer for Harcourt
General, with Higher Education division to be sold to Thomson;
Harcourt board recommands acceptance.
2001-07-11:Reed Elsevier acquires Harcourt General.
2001-07-11:Thomson acquires Harcourt Higher Education from Reed Elsevier.

-GAWollman