Drewry Communications


The Drewry Communications Group was a media company based in Lawton, Oklahoma, wholly owned and operated by the Drewry family. The company was run by Robert Drewry, Bill Drewry, and Larry Patton. Robert and Bill are the sons of late patriarch Ransom H. Drewry.
Drewry Communications' broadcasting properties consisted of 13 radio and television stations in Oklahoma and Texas, largely concentrated in western and central Texas.

History

Ransom H. Drewry founded radio station KSWO in Lawton, Oklahoma in 1941. Six years later in 1947, Drewry started his second radio station, KRHD in Duncan. Drewry entered television broadcasting in 1953, when he and a group that included J.R. Montgomery, T.R. Warkentin, Robert P. Scott, and G.G. Downing founded KSWO-TV in Lawton as the city's ABC affiliate, which signed on the air on March 8 of that year.
Over the years, the Drewry family gradually acquired other stations in the northern half of Texas. Drewry, in partnership with Ray Herndon, acquired CBS affiliate KFDA-TV in Amarillo, Texas, in 1976 through their company, Amarillo Telecasters.
Sons Robert and Bill Drewry took over the company following the elder Drewry's death. The company expanded by acquiring, among other stations: KTPX-TV in Midland, Texas and Big Spring satellite KWAB-TV ; KXXV-TV in Waco ; K60EE in Odessa ; KSCM-LP in Bryan, and KEYU in Amarillo.
Drewry sold KSWO radio, as well as KRHD and KRHD-FM, to Anadarko, Oklahoma-based Monroe-Stephens Broadcasting in 1998. The company re-entered into radio in August 2002, when Drewry purchased Regional Mexican station KTXC in Lamesa, Texas. In 2014, the company purchased in KRGN in Amarillo from Family Life Radio, and relaunched it as a Spanish-language adult hits station under the call letters KEYU-FM.
On July 1, 2008, Drewry Communications announced its intention to sell its eleven television stations to Dallas-based London Broadcasting Company—a company founded by Terry E. London the previous year to acquire broadcast properties in small- to mid-sized markets within Texas —for $115 million. While the deal received approval by the Federal Communications Commission, London Broadcasting filed a notice of non-consummation to the FCC in January 2009, terminating the deal due to market uncertainties resulting from the Great Recession.
On July 31, 2009, Drewry Communications entered into a joint sales and shared services agreement with KAUZ-TV owner Hoak Media, in which KSWO-TV would provide advertising and promotional services for KAUZ. Although the two stations are jointly operated, KSWO-TV and KAUZ-TV each retained separate studio facilities and news operations at their respective facilities in Lawton and Wichita Falls.
On August 10, 2015, Raycom Media announced that it would purchase Drewry Communications for $160 million; in addition to acquiring its 11 television stations, as KTXC and KEYU-FM were included in the sale, the deal marked Raycom's re-entry into radio station ownership after it sold WMC and WMC-FM in Memphis, Tennessee to Infinity Broadcasting Corporation in 2000. As part of the deal, American Spirit Media would purchase KAUZ-TV from Hoak Media. While KSWO and KAUZ remained jointly operated, the existing joint sales agreement between KSWO and KAUZ was terminated upon the sale's closure to comply with FCC rules. The sale was completed on December 1, 2015.

List of stations formerly owned by Drewry

Television stations

Notes:
City of license / MarketStationChannel
TV 		Years ownedCurrent ownership status
Lawton, Oklahoma - Wichita Falls, TexasKSWO-TV **7 1953–2015ABC affiliate owned by Gray Television
Lawton, Oklahoma - Wichita Falls, TexasKAUZ-TV6 1CBS affiliate owned by American Spirit Media
Lawton, Oklahoma - Wichita Falls, TexasKUWF-LP362009–2010 2defunct
Amarillo, Texas - Clovis, New MexicoKFDA-TV10 1976–2015CBS affiliate owned by Gray Television
Amarillo, Texas - Clovis, New MexicoKZBZ-CD26 2009–2015Independent station owned by Gray Television
Amarillo, Texas - Clovis, New MexicoKEYU31 2009–2015Telemundo affiliate owned by Gray Television
Amarillo, Texas - Clovis, New MexicoKTMO-LP362001–2014defunct
Amarillo, Texas - Clovis, New MexicoKTXC-LP462006–2015defunct
Amarillo, Texas - Clovis, New MexicoKAMT-LP502009–2010 2defunct
Odessa - Midland - Big Spring, TexasKWES-TV9 1991–2015NBC affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
Odessa - Midland - Big Spring, TexasKWAB-TV
'		4 1991–2015The CW affiliate, KCWO-TV, owned by Gray Television
Odessa - Midland - Big Spring, TexasKTLE-LP20 2001–2015Telemundo affiliate, KTLE-LD, owned by Gray Television
Waco - Temple - Bryan, TexasKXXV25 1994–2015ABC affiliate owned by the E. W. Scripps Company
Waco - Temple - Bryan, TexasKRHD-CD
'		40 1997–2015ABC affiliate owned by the E. W. Scripps Company
Waco - Temple - Bryan, TexasKSCM-LP18 2006–2015defunct
Waco - Temple - Bryan, TexasKUTW-LP352009–2010 2defunct
Waco - Temple - Bryan, TexasKWKO-LP382009–2010 2defunct

Other notes:
City of license / MarketStationYears ownedCurrent ownership status
Lawton, OklahomaKSWO 13801941–1998KKRX, a Sports Radio station owned by Mollman Media, Inc.
Duncan, OklahomaKRHD 13501947–1998KPNS, a news/talk station owned by Mollman Media, Inc.
Duncan, OklahomaKRHD-FM 102.31975–1998KKEN 97.1 FM, a country music station owned by Mollman Media, Inc.
Amarillo, TexasKEYU-FM 102.92014–2015KVWE, a Rhythmic CHR station owned by Alpha Media
Lamesa – Midland, TexasKTXC 104.72002–2015A Regional Mexican station owned by Gray Television