The Mormon Church owns a for-profit corporate empire worth at least $11 billion. One of the church’s highest-profile companies is a broadcast network that includes mainstream radio stations in eight markets, including Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington D.C., Seattle, Phoenix, St. Louis, Cincinnati and Salt Lake City. The church also owns the NBC television affiliate in Salt Lake City, KSL, Channel 5.
In its campaign against gay marriage, the Mormon Church, through its members, donated up to 70 percent of the funding for California’s Proposition 8, which passed last Tuesday by 52 percent to 48 percent.
Gay groups and their supporters are planning boycotts of businesses owned and operated by Mormons, but one of the many things that set the Church of Latter Day Saints apart from most other denominations is the fact that the church itself owns a wide range of for-profit companies. Recent revenue figures are not readily available on the Intertubes, but here are a couple of paragraphs from an Aug. 1997 Time Magazine article titled, “Mormons Inc.”:
In Seattle, the Mormon Church owns the right wing talk radio station, which it has branded “The Truth.” That just about says it all, doesn’t it?
The top beef ranch in the world is not the King Ranch in Texas. It is the Deseret Cattle & Citrus Ranch outside Orlando, Fla. It covers 312,000 acres; its value as real estate alone is estimated at $858 million. It is owned entirely by the Mormons. The largest producer of nuts in America, AgReserves, Inc., in Salt Lake City, is Mormon-owned. So are the Bonneville International Corp., the country’s 14th largest radio chain, and the Beneficial Life Insurance Co., with assets of $1.6 billion…
All told, TIME estimates that the Latter-day Saints farmland and financial investments total some $11 billion, and that the church’s nontithe income from its investments exceeds $600 million.
Bonneville International, the broadcasting network owned by the Mormon Church, is interesting because, unlike most broadcast outlets owned by religious groupsthat only run religious programming — the networks owned by Pat Robertson and Paul and Jan Crouch, for example — Bonneville’s stations broadcast mainstream programming. Their Los Angeles outlet, 100.3 “The Sound,” for example, plays “Hot AC,” or adult contemporary music. A typical Hot AC playlist might include a mix of songs by Bob Marley, the Waterboys, Cold Play, Jackson Browne and Tears for Fears.
While several of the stations owned by Bonneville are “news/talk,” only KTTH in Seattle is full-on right-wing talk radio. Its moniker is “The Truth” — which just about says it all, doesn’t it? Besides truth-averse hosts like Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly, KTTH also broadcasts the show by Glenn Beck, who is a Mormon.
In Salt Lake City, the church owns the NBC outlet, KSL, Channel 5. It would be interesting to learn from SLC residents if the channel makes it clear to viewers that church owns the station, and whether the station ever reports controversies involving the church.
A complete list of Bonneville’s radio stations follows.
Bonneville International, is “owned by the Church of Latter Day Saints (the LDS Church). Headquartered in the Triad Center Broadcast House in Salt Lake City, Utah …Bonneville owns about 30 radio stations and one NBC affiliate television station.”
LDS Church d.b.a. “Bonneville International”
55 North 300 West
Salt Lake City UT 84101-3502
801-575-7500
More Contact Info
LDS Church/Bonneville owns the following radio stations:
Los Angeles
“The Sound” – KSWD 100.3 FM
Peter Burton
Vice President/General Manager
KSWD5900 Wilshire Blvd. 19th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90036
323-634-1800
station@TheSoundLA.com
More Contact Info
Chicago
Jerry Schnacke
Vice President/Market Manager
Bonneville Chicago
130 East Randolph, Suite 2700
Chicago IL 60601
312-946-1019
“The Drive” – WDRV 97.1 FM & WWDV 96.9 FM
875 N. Michigan Ave.
Suite 1510
Chicago, IL 60611
312-274-9710
More Contact Info
Love FM – WILV 100.3 FM Feel Good Favorites
One Prudential Plaza, Suite 2780
Chicago IL 60601
312-297-5100
More Contact Info
“The Mix” – WTMX 101.9 FM
One Prudential Plaza, Suite 2700
Chicago IL 60601
312-946-1019
More Contact Info
Washington, DC
Joel Oxley
Senior Regional Vice President and Market Manager
Washington DC Radio Group
3400 Idaho Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20016
202-895-5000
Federal News Radio – WFED 1050 AM
fnrcomment@federalnewsradio.com
202-895-5086
More Contact Info
WTOP 103.5 FM & 103.9 FM
Contact Form
202-895-5000
More Contact Info
Seattle
Carl Gardner
Vice President/Market Manager
Seattle Radio Group
1820 Eastlake Avenue East
Seattle, Wa 98102
206-726-7000
KIRO 97.3 FM & 710 AM
sfurer@bonneville.com Feedback
206-726-7000
More Contact Info
“The Truth” – KTTH 770 AM
Note: Broadcasts Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Bill O’Reilly, Glen Beck
sfurer@bonneville.com Feedback
206-726-7000
Phoenix
“The Peak” – KPKX 98.7 FM
Scott Sutherland
Vice President/Market Manager
Phoenix Radio Group
5300 N Central Ave.
Phoenix AZ 85012
602-274-6200
E-mail: phoenix@bonneville.com
“News/Talk 92.3″ – KTAR 92.3 FM
“Sports 620″ – KTAR 620 AM
Email Russ Hill, director of news & sports programming, FM News/Talk 92.3 KTAR, Sports 620 KTAR-AM (”Please note: E-mails sent to KTAR may be read on the air, including your name, unless specifically requested otherwise”)
602-274-6200
St. Louis
John Kijowski
Vice President and Market Manager
St. Louis Radio Group
11647 Olive Blvd.
St. Louis MO 63141
314-983-6000
“The Arch” – WARH 106.5 FM
WIL 92.3 FM
“MOViN 101″ – WMVN 101.1 FM
iChannel
314-983-6000
More Contact Info
iChannel
LDS Church/Bonneville also owns the website ToastedRav.com.
Cincinnati
James R. Bryant
Market Manager
Bonneville International-Cincinnati
2060 Reading Road
Cincinnati, OH 45202
513-699-5102
“Q102″ – WKRQ 101.9 FM
More Contact Info
“The Sound” – WSWD 94.9 FM
Email Program Director Jay Kruz
513-699-5959
“B105 Country” – WUBE 105.1 FM
513-699-5105
“The Wolf” – WYGY 97.3 FM
513-699-5959
Salt Lake City
Bruce L. Christensen
President of KSL Television, Senior Vice President Salt Lake City Radio Group
Salt Lake Media Group
(Same as Bonneville International)
55 North 300 West
Salt Lake City, Utah 84180
801-575-7600
“The Arrow” – KRSP 103.5 FM
Contact Form
801-575-5555
“FM100″ – KSFI 100.3 FM
Contact Form
801-595-1003
KUTR 820 AM
801-575-5000
KSL News Radio – KSL 102.7 FM & 1160 AM
The Mormon Church also own the NBC affiliate in Salt Lake City:
KSL 5 Television
commentboards@ksl.com
Contact Form
801-KSL-5555 (801-575-5555)
I live in Phoenix and I always thought KTAR was just a little TOO far right of center, and now I know the reason why. I have friends who like KTAR but dislike the Mormon church/dogma; wait ’til they hear this!
good work jon ! this is the kind of work that MUST happen for the citizenry to start understanding how they are consistently manipulated… the light has to be shined on these tentacles that the religious right has embedded into the secular
system. it’s long past time to smoke them out of the shadows, they have alienated us for years.
If you really want to make something happen then boycott the advertisers on those radio stations. Let them know that until they stop advertising with Bonneville you won’t do business with them.
IMO ~ Radio is a powerful medium often under estimated since of Television … cuzz TV is NOT radio with video…
Do they have to pay taxes on these? Please follow up.
Mitzdog: They have to pay taxes but like most American corporations probably don’t. But if you’re asking if these business are not-for-profit, they are not.
Homonyms: prophet and profit
The leader of the Mormon Church is referred to as THE profit, er, uh… I mean prophet!
I love how you guys use ignorance to comfort yourselves.
The conclusions you draw in ignorance are just as bad as the conclusions straight people draw about gays in ignorance.
If both sides were to seek first to understand, there would be far more empathy and far less hate.
Stop waiting for the other side to go first.
What “conclusions” are you referring to, Hippo? The church admits it owns these radio stations. That fact is not really open to interpretation.
You seem to have drawn a conclusion that gay people want to be tolerated by Mormons. We don’t. We are demanding that they stop paying to have our civil rights revoked.
Several months ago when Mitt Romney was running for the Republican nomination, Mormons were highly offended by the attacks on them that the Romney campaign generated, yet Mormons sponsor right-wing hate radio all day long in some markets and see no connection at all.
Dang, just when I thought I had found a decent commercial radio station in L.A., you had to screw it up by revealing that 100.3 The Sound is Mormon-owned.
Oh, well, back to good ol’ KCRW and KKJZ, the two outstanding public stations in SoCal.
It’d be great to have a list of all Mormon owned or Mormon run companies.
I’m with you, Bill. It was a pretty good station. Too bad…
You people are so totally ignorant of the actual facts it is sickening. Do your research and get things right.
Gee, Bruce. Help us out. What facts are incorrect here?
great to have a list of mormon owned or run companies.. why? should we post lists of gay owned and gay run companies?
Yeah Iva, it is great to have a list of mormon owned companies. Why? So I, and others, can boycott them.
And yes, we SHOULD post lists of gay owned companies, so I can begin to support them! I’m all for it!
[...] billion, and that the church’s nontithe income from its investments exceeds $600 million. Pensito Review » Mormon Church Owns Mainstream Radio Stations in 8 Top Markets In Seattle, the Mormon Church owns the right wing talk radio station, which it has branded [...]
[...] some $11 billion, and that the church’s nontithe income from its investments exceeds $600 million. Pensito Review » Mormon Church Owns Mainstream Radio Stations in 8 Top Markets In Seattle, the Mormon Church owns the right wing talk radio station, which it has branded “The [...]
Much of the funding to support prop 8 was by LDS (taxed) individuals and not the LDS church. This was very subtly and in my opinion inaccurately stated in this article. The funding was from individuals and not the LDS church.
The church strongly encouraged its members to donate the money, Alan — millions and millions of dollars that, as noted, could have been spent to house the homeless, heal the sick and feed the hungry. Instead it was spent to spread hatred and divisiveness. By any reckoning, that was evil.