Golden West Broadcasters

For the similarly named broadcasting company in Canada, see Golden West Broadcasting.

Golden West Broadcasters was an umbrella investment company founded and co-owned by late actor/singer Gene Autry (1907–1998) and late two-time All-American and former Detroit Lions tackle Bob Reynolds (1914–1997). Headquartered in Hollywood, California, in addition to broadcast television and radio, Autry and Reynolds also invested in real estate as well as ownership stakes in the Hollywood Stars baseball team of the Pacific Coast League and the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball. The company owned and operated several television and radio stations from 1951 to 1982, and also provided services to and for other third-party, non-owned stations through the Golden West Radio Network.

Golden West Broadcasters

Industry	Broadcast television broadcast radio
Founded	1951
Founders	Gene Autry Bob Reynolds
Defunct	1997
Fate	Liquidation of assets
Headquarters	Hollywood, California , United States

History

In 1951, Autry and Reynolds formed Golden West Broadcasters with their acquisition of KMPC (now KSPN) 710 AM in Los Angeles, while Reynolds served and worked as the station's manager. They followed that up by taking its first ever television station, KOPO-TV (now CBS affiliate KOLD-TV) in Tucson, Arizona, to the air in two years later, and then with additional acquisitions including most importantly, KTLA in Los Angeles, which continues to operate from the very same site at which the company and the station co-existed on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood to this very day. Over time, Autry took control of the company with other co-investors in later years. Golden West also operated several cable television systems across the country during the 1970s and into the 1980s. Autry began their gradual exit from the broadcasting industry beginning in 1982 with the sale of KTLA to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, culminating with the sale of KSCA 101.9 FM in Glendale, California – within the Los Angeles area, to Heftel Broadcasting Corporation in 1997.

Former stations

Stations are arranged in order by city of license.

• (**) — Station built and signed on by either Golden West or Gene Autry personally.

Television

City of license / Market	Station	Channel	Years owned	Current status
Los Angeles, CA	KTLA	5	1964–1982	The CW affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Oklahoma City, OK	KAUT-TV	43	1979–1985	The CW affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Phoenix–Mesa, AZ	KOOL-TV **	10	1953–1982	Fox owned and operated (O&O) KSAZ-TV
Tucson, AZ	KOPO-TV/KOLD-TV **	13	1953–1969	CBS affiliate owned by Gray Television

Radio

AM Stations

FM Stations

City of license / Market	Station	Years owned	Current status
Detroit, MI–Windsor, ON	WCAR/WCXI 1130	1977–1986	WDFN, owned by iHeartMedia
	WCAR-FM/WTWR/WCXI-FM 92.3	1977–1986	WMXD, owned by iHeartMedia
Los Angeles, CA	KMPC 710	1952–1994	KSPN, owned by Good Karma Brands
	KUTE/KMPC-FM/KLIT/ KEDG/KSCA 101.9	1985–1997	Owned by TelevisaUnivision
Phoenix, AZ	KARZ/KOOL 960	1956–1985	KKNT, owned by Salem Media Group
	KOOL-FM 94.5	1956–1985	Owned by Audacy, Inc.
Portland, OR	KEX 1190	1967–1984	Owned by iHeartMedia
	KQFM/KKRZ 100.3	1978–1984	Owned by iHeartMedia
San Francisco, CA	KSFO 560	1956–1983	Owned by Cumulus Media
Seattle–Tacoma, WA	KVI 570	1959–1994	Owned by Lotus Communications
	KETO-FM/KVI-FM/KPLZ-FM 101.5	1976–1994	Owned by Lotus Communications
Tucson, AZ	KOPO/KOLD 1450	1947–1977	KTZR, owned by iHeartMedia

External links

• Gene Autry's official website