He is being remembered as the former owner of what was at the time the nation’s largest privately-held commercial television broadcast group, with 30 properties. In more recent years, financial difficulties led to a May 2008 bankruptcy filing and gradual sell-off of his TV properties. Later, a San Francisco-market AM was spun.
Now, many broadcast media industry leaders are pausing to remember Harry Pappas, who died April 24 in Reno, Nev., at the age of 78.
Pappas served as CEO of Pappas Telecasting Companies, a Visalia, Calif.-headquartered operation. At its peak, it was comprised of 30 stations. Pappas teamed with his brothers to start the company in 1971, with KMPH-TV in Fresno among the company’s first properties. The call letters stand for Harry and his two siblings’ names, Mike and Pete.
KMPH was a Pappas-owned property until early 2009. After years of growth and expansion plans, 13 Pappas Telecasting properties in May 2008 ended up in bankruptcy; he had until February 2009 to make an asset sale happen. KMPH and nine other stations were auctioned off to settle the company’s outstanding debts, ending up in the hands of New World TV Group. That company, which changed its name to Titan TV Broadcast Group, would spin KMPH to Sinclair Inc. in June 2013.
Pappas’ divestments continued after the New World deal. A Reno, Nev., property was sold to Entravision. An agreement that made his KAZA-54 in Los Angeles the flagship property of the Azteca América broadcast TV network fizzled at roughly the same time, with Pappas developing his own short-lived Spanish-language network branded “TuVisión.”
The sales would continue over the next few years, while Pappas-licensed KMPH-AM in Modesto, Calif., would suffer from hundreds of dollars in damage to its equipment after vandals targeted the station in an August 2013 incident.
Most recently, Salem Media Group in late 2016 assumed control of Class B KTRB-AM 860 in San Francisco in a $5.125 million transaction executed by Susan L. Uecker, the court-appointed receiver of all assets tied to Pappas Telecasting subsidiary Pappas Radio of California.
On Feb. 1, 2007, KTRB officially moved to San Francisco from Modesto in an ill-fated effort to make the station a Bay Area-based Talk station competing against such legendary competitors as KGO-AM 810 and KSFO-AM 560. After a flirtation with a Sports format in fall 2008, KTRB on Sept. 10, 2010 was placed in the hands of Comerica Bank, through the receivership of Ms. Uecker.
Harry Pappas was preceded in death by his brothers and is survived by his wife of nearly 55 years, Stella Pappas. He is also survived by his son John, daughter Mary Katherine, and her fiancé Anthony.
Services were held Tuesday (4/30) in Modesto. Donations in his memory may be made to St. Anthony Greek Orthodox Church, 4795 Lakeside Drive, Reno, Nev., 89509.
