Liberty Corporation

Not to be confused with Liberty Media, a media conglomerate.

The Liberty Corporation was a media corporation originally based in Greenville, South Carolina. At its peak, Liberty owned 15 network-affiliated television stations across the Midwest and Southern regions of the United States. Cable advertising sales group CableVantage Inc., video production facility Take Ten Productions and broadcast equipment distributor Broadcast Merchandising Corporation were also some of its assets.

The Liberty Corporation

Company type	Public
Traded as	NYSE: LC
Industry	Broadcast Television, Insurance
Founded	1919
Defunct	January 31, 2006 (2006-01-31)
Fate	Acquired by Raycom Media
Successor	Raycom Media Gray Media
Headquarters	Greenville, South Carolina , United States
Area served	United States (Nationwide)
Key people	Elliott Estes A. H. Twitchell W. Frank Hipp Herman Hipp W. Hayne Hipp
Products	CableVantage Take Ten Productions Broadcasting Merchandising Corporation

Liberty was founded in 1919 when W. Frank Hipp, a former top agent at Spartanburg-based Southeastern Life Insurance Company, struck out on his own. Within a decade, Liberty had grown large enough to buy his former employer. It entered broadcasting in 1930, when it bought WIS in Columbia—the start of what would become the Broadcasting Company of the South, renamed Cosmos Broadcasting in 1965. Under Francis Hipp, who succeeded his father in 1943, Liberty reorganized as a holding company, The Liberty Corporation, in 1967.^[1]

Liberty sold its insurance subsidiaries, Liberty Life and Pierce National Life, to Royal Bank of Canada in 2000. Cosmos was then folded directly into the Liberty banner.

After the sale of its insurance division, the company employed approximately 1,400 people. The executive officers included chairman and CEO W. Hayne Hipp (who, with his family, owned about 25% of the company before its sale to Raycom Media), president and COO James M. Keelor, CFO Howard L. Schrott.

On August 25, 2005, Liberty agreed to be bought out by Raycom Media. Raycom paid $987 million, or $47.35 per Liberty share, and assumed Liberty's debts of approximately $110 million in the buyout.^[2] The acquisition was completed on January 31, 2006.^[3] After closing the deal, Raycom sold a number of stations, including two from the Liberty portfolio. They included ABC affiliate WWAY-TV in Wilmington, North Carolina to Morris Multimedia and CBS affiliate KGBT-TV in Harlingen, Texas to Barrington Broadcasting.^[4] Also included with the merger was a construction permit for a new station in the Myrtle Beach–Florence, South Carolina market that Liberty applied for in 1996^[5] and was granted by the FCC in October 2005, shortly after the merger announcement;^[6] Raycom would use the permit to build and sign-on WMBF-TV on August 7, 2008.^[7]

Former stations

Stations are arranged in order by state and city of license.

• (**) – Indicates station was built and signed-on by Liberty.

City of license / Market	Station	Channel	Years owned	Current status
Montgomery–Selma, AL	WSFA-TV	12	1959–2006	NBC affiliate owned by Gray Media
Jonesboro, AR	KAIT	8	1986–2006	ABC affiliate owned by Gray Media
Albany, GA	WALB	10	1998–2006	NBC affiliate owned by Gray Media
Evansville, IN	WFIE	14	1981–2006[a]	NBC affiliate owned by Gray Media
Louisville, KY	WAVE	3	1981–2006[a]	NBC affiliate owned by Gray Media
Lake Charles, LA	KPLC	7	1986–2006	NBC affiliate owned by Gray Media
New Orleans, LA	WDSU	6	1972–1989	NBC affiliate owned by Hearst Television
Marquette–Escanaba–Iron Mountain, MI	WJMN-TV[A]	3	1981–1984[a]	ABC/CW/MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Sullivan's Landing[b]
Biloxi–Gulfport–Pascagoula, MS	WLOX	13	1995–2006	ABC affiliate owned by Gray Media
Jackson, MS	WLBT	3	2000–2006	NBC affiliate owned by Gray Media
Wilmington, NC	WWAY	3	1999–2006	ABC affiliate owned by Morris Multimedia
Toledo, OH	WTOL	11	1965–2006	CBS affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
Columbia, SC	WIS **	10	1953–2006	NBC affiliate owned by Gray Media
Myrtle Beach–Florence, SC	WMBF-TV	32	[c]	NBC affiliate owned by Gray Media
Harlingen–Brownsville–McAllen, TX	KGBT-TV	4	1998–2006	Antenna TV affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Lubbock, TX	KCBD	11	2000–2006	NBC affiliate owned by Gray Media
Tyler–Longview, TX	KLTV	7	2002–2006	ABC affiliate owned by Gray Media
Lufkin–Nacogdoches, TX	KTRE[B]	9	2002–2006	ABC affiliate owned by Gray Media
Green Bay, WI	WFRV-TV	5	1981–1984[a]	CBS affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group

Notes

1. Semi-satellite of WFRV-TV.
2. Semi-satellite of KLTV.

1. Acquired from Orion Broadcasting.
2. Operated through an SSA by Morgan Murphy Media.
3. Raycom acquired WMBF's construction permit from Liberty, applied for in 1996 and granted in 2005, prior to the station's sign-on in 2008.