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Bonneville International Corporation

Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Radio broadcasting Television broadcasting
Founded	September 4, 1964; 61 years ago (1964-09-04)
Headquarters	Salt Lake City,Utah , U.S.
Parent	Deseret Management Corporation
Website	bonneville.com

Bonneville International Corporation is a media andbroadcasting company, wholly owned bythe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) through its for-profit arm,Deseret Management Corporation. It began as a radio and TV network in theTriad Center Broadcast House inSalt Lake City, Utah. Bonneville's name alludes toBenjamin Bonneville and the prehistoricLake Bonneville that once covered much of modern-dayUtah, which was named after him.

Bonneville owns 13radio stations in four major markets as well as onetelevision station in its home market; it also manages eight additional radio stations in two markets under alocal marketing agreement. Additionally, its Bonneville Communications division provides marketing and communications strategy and branding services. Bonneville Distribution, another division, provides broadcast syndication and distribution services tonon-profit organizations.

Bonneville International was formed on September 4, 1964, with the approval of the LDS Church'sFirst Presidency. It was formed to merge its TV and radio properties, includingKSL-AM-FM-TV in its hometown of Salt Lake City, as well asKIRO-AM-FM-TV inSeattle, which had previously been subsidiaries of theDeseret News.^[1] The LDS Church divested itself of the Seattle stations between 1995 and 1997, but reacquired KIRO-AM 10 years later.^[2] The company has also owned stations inNew York City,Dallas,Kansas City, andLos Angeles at one point.

In 1980 it formed Bonneville Communications Corporation, primarily to broadcastLDS General Conference.

Bonneville prided itself on "values-oriented programming" and community involvement, in line with the company's mission as set forth by its first president and founder,Arch L. Madsen. According to Bonneville International's website, their values reflect an understanding that "families are the basic unit of society... and that strong families build strong communities."

Due to aFederal Communications Commission (FCC) media cross-ownership rule, Bonneville was unable to purchase additional media outlets in Salt Lake City beyond its flagship cluster. In anticipation of a rule change, Bonneville purchased four additional Salt Lake radio stations in 2002. The FCC did not grant approval for this purchase until 2003, upon which the stations were acquired by Bonneville. The status of this deal is still uncertain—the FCC has only granted a waiver to Bonneville, and a recent^{[needs update]} court ruling has put the FCC cross-ownership rule changes into question.

On October 4, 2004, Bonneville International announced plans to buy three stations from Emmis Communications in thePhoenix, Arizona market, in exchange for WLUP "The Loop" in Chicago and cash.

On January 4, 2006, Bonneville andThe Washington Post announced that the frequencies currently used by WTOP, 1500 kHz AM and 107.7 MHz FM, would be reassigned to a new station, "Washington Post Radio." WTOP would move to 103.5 MHz, the frequencies currently used by classical music stationWGMS, which in turn would move to 104.1 and 103.9 MHz, the frequencies used byWWZZ, which would be closed.

WGMS itself would fall silent a little more than a year later, on January 22, 2007. In its place is 1970s-1980s-adult-hits-stationWXGG ("George 104"). Simultaneously, public radio stationWETA-FM dropped its news/talk format in order to revive its previous classical format, via a partnership with Bonneville. WETA would also receive WGMS' entire music library, hired WGMS' last program director, and also retained the usage of the WGMS call sign. George 104 would last less than four months, when in April 2007, it was announced that the 104.1 frequency would be LMA'd to Radio One. On April 7, 2007, the frequency would flip to a Gospel and Inspiration format, known asPraise 104.1.

The Washington Post Radio experiment ended in September 2007, as the three stations (including the powerful AM 1500 signal) became WWWT, or "3WT". Hosts include syndicated hosts from the Right (Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, Neal Boortz) and Left (Stephanie Miller) as well asWashington Nationals baseball. The station's morning show will continue.

Rush Limbaugh once worked for Bonneville Communications, after his stint with theKansas City Royals.

CBS Radio has announced that it would sell 50 radio stations in 12 markets to focus on major market stations. As of September 22, 2008, Bonneville is one of the seven candidates to make first-round bids.^[3]

On August 12, 2009;Citadel Broadcasting has rumored that they're planning to sell the formerDisney/ABC's 23 stations to reduce its debt load, however several financial factors may put the deal at risk. While not all the stations can be sold off, Bonneville has expressed interest in 2 FM stations in Washington D.C. (WJZW andWRQX).^[4]

On January 19, 2011, Bonneville announced it would sell 17 radio stations inCincinnati,Chicago,Washington, D.C., andSt. Louis toHubbard Broadcasting for $505 million.^[5] The deal closed May 2, 2011.

On November 17, 2017, Bonneville began operating fourSan Francisco radio stations and fourSacramento radio stations under alocal marketing agreement on behalf of theEntercom Divestiture Trust, following Entercom's merger withCBS Radio.^[6] On August 3, 2018, Bonneville acquired the stations outright for $141 million;^[7] the deal had been delayed by succession issues related to the death of LDS Church presidentThomas S. Monson the preceding January.^[8]

On September 30, 2021, it was announced that Bonneville International, owner of theKSL (AM) andKSL-FM, would be taking over operations of The Zone sports network. The arrangement with Bonneville will result in select Utah Jazz games being aired on KSL.^[9] Founding host Gordon Monson and some producers were laid off by the new management.^[10] The Zone introduced a new lineup effective October 20.^[11]

In October 2025, the company sold its cluster of radio stations in San Francisco toConnoisseur Media.^[12]

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

Note: Two boldface asterisks appearing following a station's call letters (**) indicates a station that was built and signed-on by a predecessor of Bonneville International.

On September 30, 2021, Bonneville International, owner ofKSL andKSL-TV, began operatingKZNS/KZNS-FM "The Zone" in Salt Lake City under alocal marketing agreement with Jazz Communications LLC, through the sports division of KSL News Radio. The operating agreement will allow select Utah Jazz games to be simulcast on KSL-AM 1160 and KSL-FM 102.7. Gordon Monson and Austin Horton were among the long time employees of The Zone who were dismissed as a result of KSL Sports assuming operations of KZNS. Although KSL Sports is responsible for overseeing daily operations of KZNS, Ryan Smith dba Jazz Communications LLC retains ownership of both 1280 AM and 97.5 FM according to the FCC database. The Zone's website at 1280thezone.com is now a dead link. The stations can now be streamed at kslsports.com/thezone/. In June 2022, The Zone officially moved its operations from Vivint Arena to newly built studios and office space in theTriad Center, joining the other radio stations (KSL (radio network),KSFI,KRSP-FM) andKSL-TV, as well asDeseret News, a print newspaper owned by the parent company of Bonneville International. KSL News Radio, KSL-TV, KSL.com, and Deseret News share a consolidated newsroom.

From 2010 to 2016, Bonneville International also operated anindependent TV station,KJZZ-TV (channel 14), in Salt Lake City, under alocal marketing agreement withLarry H. Miller Communications Corporation. The arrangement ended whenSinclair Broadcast Group acquired KJZZ-TV.^[13]

• Media in Salt Lake City

• Brady, Rodney H. (1992),"Bonneville International Corporation", inLudlow, Daniel H (ed.),Encyclopedia of Mormonism, New York:Macmillan Publishing, p. 132,ISBN 0-02-879602-0,OCLC 24502140
• Gold, Troy W. (1994),"Bonneville International Corporation", in Powell, Allan Kent (ed.),Utah History Encyclopedia, Salt Lake City, Utah:University of Utah Press,ISBN 0874804256,OCLC 30473917

• Official website

• Deseret Management Corporation
• Bonneville International
• 1964 establishments in Utah
• American companies established in 1964
• Broadcasting companies of the United States
• Companies based in Salt Lake City
• Mass media companies established in 1964
• Radio broadcasting companies of the United States
• Television broadcasting companies of the United States

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