Ackerley Group


The Ackerley Group was an American media company founded by businessman Barry Ackerley that owned and operated several radio stations in Seattle, Washington, as well as television stations across the United States. The company also owned the NBA Seattle SuperSonics and WNBA Seattle Storm professional basketball teams. The Ackerley Group was sold to Clear Channel Communications in 2002.
Ackerley announced its sale to Clear Channel Communications on October 8, 2001; the merger was completed on June 14, 2002. At the time of the closure of the transaction, the sale price was reported to be 38 times cashflow, the highest ever sale valuation for a North American publicly traded media company in the history of the NYSE. The record setting high price tag was attributed to the overwhelming market monopoly position of the Ackerley Group's Out of Home Media marketplace in the Washington, Oregon, Massachusetts and South Florida media markets- all areas where Clear Channel was devoid of inventory. Barry Ackerley and his immediate family owned approximately 82% of the company stock at the time of the sale.

Former stations

Media marketStateStationPurchasedSoldNotes
FairbanksAlaskaKTVF19992002
BakersfieldCaliforniaKGET-TV19832002
EurekaCaliforniaKVIQ19982000
FresnoCaliforniaKGPE20002002
Salinas–MontereyCaliforniaKCBA19862000
Salinas–MontereyCaliforniaKION20002002
Santa BarbaraCaliforniaKCOY-TV19992002
San Francisco–OaklandCaliforniaKFTY19962002
Colorado Springs–PuebloColoradoKKTV19831999
BinghamtonNew YorkWIVT19982002
BinghamtonNew YorkWBGH-CA20002002
ElmiraNew YorkWETM-TV20002002
RochesterNew YorkWOKR19992002
SyracuseNew YorkWIXT-TV19822002
UticaNew YorkWUTR19972002
WatertownNew YorkWWTI20002002
Eugene–SpringfieldOregonKMTR19992002
BellinghamWashingtonKVOS-TV19852002