Pacific and Southern??

[Scott Fybush]

revdoug1@myfairpoint.net wrote:
> I happened to notice the tail-end credits of this evening's newscast
> from WLBZ-TV in Bangor, and instead of stating that the station is
> owned by Gannett, it said "(C) 2010 Pacific and Southern Co." A bit
> startled, I went to my computer and Googled the company name ---
> which I had never heard of --- and found that it's a division of
> Gannett that manufactures wireless and broadcasting equipment. I then
> went to the WLBZ website, and sure enough, it gives Gannett as the
> station's owner, with Pacific and Southern's name in parentheses.
> 
> Does anyone know what this is all about?

P&S is a shell company for Gannett, the same way that WBZ might be 
licensed to "CBS Broadcasting East" or WXKS to "Citicasters," for 
instance. It keeps the lawyers happy and insulates the parent company 
from litigation that might be aimed at one particular station in a big 
cluster. The actual name of the shell company is nearly irrelevant. 
Clear Channel is (or was, until recently) using various corporate 
entities it acquired in the midst of its conglomeration a decade ago - 
"Jacor," "Citicasters," "AMFM," etc.

Pacific and Southern, in this case, was a broadcast group based 
(surprise!) in the southwest that Gannett bought some 30 years ago. I 
believe it brought LA's KIIS, among others, into the Gannett family.

Look on the WLBZ license and, sure enough, it's licensed to "Pacific and 
Southern Company, Inc.", with a mailing address c/o Gannett Co. in Virginia.

It looks like Gannett uses several operating companies for its TV 
licenses; my semi-local WGRZ in Buffalo is licensed to "Multimedia 
Entertainment, Inc.," a corporate name that I believe came into the 
Gannett family with the acquisition of WKYC in Cleveland.

There is no manufacturing arm associated with P&S or Gannett that I'm 
aware of.

s