The Matthews Company was an American mass media conglomerate headquartered in Palo Alto, California, founded in 1977 by John K. Matthews as part of a reconsolidation of his broadcast and production assets over his purchase of Grassyville, Minecraftia's local newspaper The Grassyville Star.
On March 30, 2020, the mass media corporation merged with GamerCraft, a fellow mass media firm owned by Matthews' nephew Red Gordonia.
History
Early history
In 1950, John K. Matthews founded Everest Pictures, a movie production company in Los Angeles, California.
Formation
In 1977, as part of its purchase of The Grassyville Star Company, he reconsolidated all of his broadcast and movie assets, as well as acquired technologies. He then founded The Matthews Company. However, just as he founded the company, he had to sell the Star's radio stations WXB-AM-FM in Grassyville to Infinity Broadcasting Corporation to comply with FCC regulations regarding common ownership of newspapers and broadcast stations. The radio stations' former television sister kept by Matthews is now WJKM-TV, named in his honor; it is an ABC affiliate since 1992, when CBS purchased Midwest Radio and Television, owners of rival station WGRV-TV (now WGVI-TV).
Long-standing relationship with VGC and other companies
The Matthews Company had changed its media empire in 1985, when they sold Everest to Philippines-based longtime partner VGC, but the company continued to operate TMC Productions, a television and movie production company separate from Everest.
In 1999, the Matthews family decided to sell their hardware division to IBM, while a joint venture between Google and Microsoft acquired the software division of TMC in exchange for a long-term agreement to use Google and Microsoft technologies for TMC's internet services.
Reunifications
After selling The Grassyville Star to the Gannett Company in 1999, in which TMC retained WJKM-TV, the company was allowed again to own a radio sister station; in 2017, CBS/Entercom sold the WXB and WGVI radio stations to TMC to comply with FCC regulations, which reunited WXB radio with the old WXB-TV. In 2018, Brazilian-American mogul Lucas Welter, who owns Rio de Janeiro-based LUCASRIO Media Group, through his separately managed Welter Broadcasting group, decided to divest all of its radio stations to finance the American expansion of his LUCASRIO network. The group, rechristened in 2019 as LUCASRIO America, sold WGA radio in Gameria City to TMC. Although the sale separated the radio stations from independent-turned-LUCASRIO O&O WGA-TV in Gameria City, it reunited the stations with the former WGA-TV, now NBC affiliate WGNB-TV.
Merger with GamerCraft
In 2019, the Matthews family decided to sell their corporate empire. They agreed to merge the company with GamerCraft, a firm owned by John K. Matthews' nephew Red Gordonia.
In February 12, 2020, GamerCraft and TMC shareholders and board members, as well as the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission approved the merger. The merger was finalized on March 30, 2020
Broadcast properties
The Matthews Company owned two television stations and seven radio stations. Its television stations have longstanding relationships with ABC and NBC (WJKM-TV had an affiliation with CBS since its sign-on as WXB-TV until CBS's purchase of WGRV-TV/WGVI-TV in 1992), and most of its radio stations (considering its long tenure of CBS ownership) have affiliations with CBS's radio networks, except for WGA radio which has affiliations with ABC News Radio, NBC News Radio, and ESPN Radio.
Television stations
NOTE: Ownership year is recorded back when the broadcasting division was called The Grassyville Star Company.
| City of license / Market | Station | Channel TV (RF) |
Years owned | Current ownership status |
| Grassyville | WJKM-TV | 7 (19) | 1976-2020 | ABC affiliate owned by GamerCraft Broadcast Group |
| Gameria City | WGNB-TV | 4 (14) | 1976-2020 | NBC affiliate owned by GamerCraft Broadcast Group |
Radio stations
| City of license / Market | Station | Years owned | Current ownership |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grassyville | WXB 700 | 2017-2020 | Owned by GamerCraft Broadcast Group |
| WGVI 1000 | 2017-2020 | Owned by GamerCraft Broadcast Group | |
| WGPN 1090 | 2017-2020 | Owned by GamerCraft Broadcast Group | |
| WGVI-FM 93.9 | 2017-2020 | Owned by GamerCraft Broadcast Group | |
| WXB-FM 99.9 | 2017-2020 | Owned by GamerCraft Broadcast Group | |
| Gameria City | WGA 970 | 2018-2020 | Owned by GamerCraft Broadcast Group |
| WGA-FM 88.3 | 2018-2020 | Owned by GamerCraft Broadcast Group |
Movie and TV production
The Matthews Company's only owned franchise after the sale of Everest Pictures in 1985 is the Redding series, which airs on TMC stations and most GamerCraft/Craftsman stations. The merger between GamerCraft included the Redding series.