In October, the only historically black college or university (HBCU) in the state of Oklahoma announced that radio and TV station owner Griffin Media had made the largest corporate donation in the history of the university.
As a result, the school is getting a building associated until now with CBS affiliate KWTV-9 in Oklahoma City.
At its 17th annual President’s Student Scholarship Gala, Langston University revealed that Griffin Media is gifting the university its building located at 7401 N. Kelley Ave. in Oklahoma City.
That’s presently home of KWTV News 9, and Langston will take possession of the building in January.
David Griffin, President/CEO of Griffin Media, said the company was working to bring new, advanced technology and sets to KWTV’s newscasts. Installing new equipment in the N. Kelley Ave. building would tie them to the location for the next 15 years.
Griffin Media had another goal in mind — to plant its flag in downtown Oklahoma City. This left Griffin with a dilemma: What would the company do with its existing home of more than 70 years? “If we abandon this building there is going to be a hole in this community, and we just did not want to leave this community alone,” Griffin said. “So, we went on a search to see how we could be a part of something bigger than ourselves. And then it just dawned on me, Langston has a journalism program.”
The gift totals over $10 million and includes the building, the surrounding land all the existing equipment used for the News 9 newscast, down to every table and chair, the computers, the fiberoptic cabling and more.
The site will also be home to the Center for Media and Community Advancement at Langston University, funded in part with a grant from the Inasmuch Foundation.
Langston University President Kent J. Smith Jr. said this gift will not only impact our journalism program, but it will also impact the entire university community.
“There is an entire business behind news production,” Smith said. “From computer technology to marketing and sales, our students will have the benefit of learning here. Now we can think of Oklahoma City and our Oklahoma City campus in an entirely different realm that we could not imagine before.”
This gift, the school said, “will revolutionize” how Oklahoma’s only HBCU produces new journalists and will impact every aspect of the profession.
Concurrently, Griffin Media has committed to a long-term partnership that sees KWTV’s on-air and behind-the-scenes talent teach classes, mentor students and provide opportunities for LU students to learn from them on state-of-the-art equipment.
“If you’re looking for something to believe in that will fundamentally change not only Langston University but journalism as a whole there is no doubt in my mind that this is it,” Smith said. “If you cannot get excited about that I do not know what gets you excited.”
Griffin Media in June 2018 engineered the first major transaction to be proposed following the FCC’s discontinuation of its prohibition on cross-ownership of a TV and/or newspaper with radio stations in a given market. This saw the company acquire four FMs — Muskogee-licensed CHR/Pop KHTT-FM 106.9 “KHits,” Country siblings KVOO-FM 98.5 and KXBL-FM 99.5 and Adult Hits KBEZ-FM 92.9 “Bob FM” — and KFAQ-AM 1170 in Tulsa from The E.W. Scripps Co.
Asked for comment at the time by RBR+TVBR, Griffin VP/Marketing Houston Hunt declined to discuss the topic, only noting, “We are extremely excited about adding the Tulsa Scripps Radio group to our company.”
In prepared comments sent to RBR+TVBR, media shy David Griffin added, “They are an excellent group of stations with a great team and are a natural fit … Combining radio with our TV stations, billboards, websites and digital products deepens our commitment to the Tulsa market, and provides us an unmatched footprint.”
In addition to KWTV, Griffin Media owns the following TV stations.
- KSBI-52 in Oklahoma City, a MyNetwork TV affiliate
- KOTV-6 in Tulsa, a CBS affiliate
- KQCW-19 in Tulsa, an affiliate of The CW
Also in Griffin’s stable are the 9 Outdoor and 6 Outdoor out-of-home advertising entities, Griffin Tower Company, and Griffin Digital Solutions.
