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David D. Smith

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David D. Smith
Born
David Deniston Smith
NationalityAmerican
TitleExecutive chairman, Sinclair Broadcast Group
Political partyRepublican [citation needed]
SpouseJane Smith
FatherJulian Sinclair Smith
Notes

David Deniston Smith is an American businessman who is the executive chairman of Sinclair Broadcast Group (SBGI) since January 2017, having been its president and CEO from September 1990 to January 2017.[2] In 2024, he acquired majority ownership of The Baltimore Sun (founded 1837) and its affiliated regional and community newspapers.[3]

Early life

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David Deniston Smith[4] is the son of Julian Sinclair Smith (1921–1993), founder of Sinclair Broadcast Group, and Carolyn Beth Cunningham.[5] He has three brothers—Frederick, J. Duncan and Robert.[5] As a child he lived in the Bolton Hill neighborhood of Baltimore, and attended and graduated from The Baltimore City College (high school),[6] graduating in 1969.[7]

Career

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From 1971 to 1978, Smith worked at WBFF-TV, Channel 45, which began operations in 1971 as the first commercial UHF television station in the city / media market (and run by his father), He first was in charge of maintenance operations.[7] He devised a plan for "selling pornographic videos in Baltimore's red-light district during the 1970s."[8] He founded Comark Communications in 1978.[9]

In 1985, WBFF (then affiliated with Fox Broadcasting Company) was rebranded, with two other stations, as "Sinclair".[7] David Smith served as the chief executive officer and president of Sinclair Television Group, Inc. from 1988 to January 2017.[10] He "built Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. into the largest owner of television stations in the U.S.",[10] and he was profiled by The New York Times in 1998.[11] He has been executive chairman of SBGI since January 1, 2017. It has been reported that every news station under Sinclair's umbrella is required to syndicate commentary that comports with its owners' ideological views.[12][13]

In September 2013, his shareholding in SBGI was valued at $268 million.[5] His total calculated compensation was $5,206,439 as of fiscal year 2016.[9]

In an August 1996 prostitution sting, Smith was charged with committing an "unnatural and perverted sex act" (oral sex) in a Sinclair company vehicle. He was sentenced to community service, which was fulfilled by having Sinclair station WBFF produce reports on a local drug counseling program.[14][15]

Prior to Ajit Pai's appointment under the first Donald Trump presidential administration as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Smith had met with Pai to discuss deregulation of the FCC's media ownership rules. This meeting, plus Sinclair having been granted additional access to Donald Trump's presidential campaign, resulted in accusations that Sinclair was currying favor with the Trump administration in exchange for deregulation of the industry.[16][17][18] Smith met with Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election year, in which he told Trump, "We are here to deliver your message."[3]

In January 2024, he reached a private agreement to buy The Baltimore Sun from the venture capital group Alden Global Capital, who had also just recently purchased the media properties from Tribune Publishing (longtime national media syndicate founded by the Chicago Tribune) then emerging from bankruptcy and a long period of financial instability.[19] He is also the owner of other Baltimore-area news publications, like Capital Gazette papers in Annapolis, Carroll County Times, The Howard County Times, Towson Times and several other Baltimore-area weeklies and magazines.[3]

References

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  1. ^ Brown, Sloane (January 22, 2011). "Closet Secrets". The Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on April 4, 2018. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
  2. ^ "David D. Smith". Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. Archived from the original on August 18, 2017. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  3. ^ a b c Bowie, Liz; Sullivan, Emily; Boteler, Cody (January 16, 2024). "The Baltimore Sun media group sold to local businessman David Smith". The Baltimore Banner. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
  4. ^ "SBGI Company Profile & Executives – Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. Cl A". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
  5. ^ a b c Morrell, Alex (September 28, 2013). "Who Got Rich This Week: The Owners Of Two Family-Run Businesses With Decades Of Broadcasting And Retail Experience". Forbes. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  6. ^ Ellison, Sarah (February 16, 2024). "Sinclair's Recipe for TV News: Crime, Homelessness, Illegal Drugs". The Washington Post.
  7. ^ a b c Wofford, Ben (April 24, 2018). "Sinclair Broadcasting's Hostile Takeover". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 26, 2024.
  8. ^ Hylton, Wil S. (November 6, 2005). "Not Necessarily the News". GQ. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
  9. ^ a b "David D. Smith: Executive Profile & Biography". Bloomberg. August 14, 2017. Archived from the original on August 15, 2017.
  10. ^ a b Wilen, Holden (November 2, 2016). "Sinclair's David Smith to step down as CEO". Baltimore Business Journal. Archived from the original on March 30, 2017. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
  11. ^ Carter, Bill (October 4, 1998). "Is Television's Future In This Man's Hands?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on August 6, 2018. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
  12. ^ Levitz, Eric (March 8, 2018). "Local News Anchors Are Being Forced to Deliver Pro-Trump Propaganda". Intelligencer. New York. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
  13. ^ Domonoske, Camila (April 2, 2018). "Video Reveals Power Of Sinclair, As Local News Anchors Recite Script In Unison". The Two-Way. NPR. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
  14. ^ Boehlert, Eric (October 22, 2004). "Sleaze and smear at Sinclair". Salon.com. Retrieved July 30, 2017.
  15. ^ Hermann, Peter (August 15, 1996). "Broadcasting official charged in sex stakeout Sinclair president, woman arrested in company car". The Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on April 3, 2018. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
  16. ^ Battaglio, Stephen (May 8, 2017). "Sinclair Broadcast Group to buy Tribune Media for $3.9 billion plus debt". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  17. ^ Littleton, Cynthia (May 8, 2017). "Sinclair Broadcast Group Sets $3.9 Billion Deal to Acquire Tribune Media". Variety. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  18. ^ Johnson, Ted (May 8, 2017). "Sinclair Will Come Under Scrutiny as It Seeks Approval for Tribune Merger". Variety. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  19. ^ Mirabella, Lorraine (January 15, 2024). "The Baltimore Sun purchased by Sinclair's David D. Smith". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved January 15, 2024.


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