The Salt Lake radio market ranks as the nation's 31st largest.
However, Salt Lake also is home to one of the largest radio station owners in the United States: Bonneville International Corp.
Started 42 years ago, Bonneville is headquartered in the Triad Center, 55 N. 300 West, and owns 27 radio stations (soon to be 28) — including five in Salt Lake. The company also owns one TV station, KSL-Ch. 5 in Salt Lake City.
Bruce T. Reese, president and CEO of Bonneville, said the company's size ranking varies, almost from month-to-month, depending on consolidations and mergers among U.S. radio companies.
"We're probably 11th largest now," Reese said, explaining it was 12th place until recently.
If mergers happen as they might, he believes Bonneville could be the ninth-largest U.S. radio company by next year.
Of course, ownership of 27 radio stations pales in comparison to a company like Clear Channel, which operates some 1,200 U.S. stations. But that does not mean Bonneville is without influence in the industry.
"We carry a lot more weight than our size," said Russell Banz, Bonneville director of new initiatives and technology. "Bonneville is well recognized in the industry. . . . Bonneville stands for something."
Influence and awards
He said Reese, who will surpass 10 years as Bonneville's CEO next month and has been with the company for 22 years, is chairman of the the National Association of Broadcasters' (NAB) executive committee and wields considerable influence there.
"Historically, the most successful broadcast stations are those that are invested in localism and serve listeners and viewers with quality news, public affairs and public service initiatives, and I can say without question that Bruce Reese and Bonneville embodies that spirit," said Dennis Wharton, senior vice president, corporate communications, for the NAB in Washington, D.C.
"I think a lot of the Bonneville ethic stems from Bruce Reese. He understands that you can serve the community with quality programming, provide great public service and also make a profit simultaneously."
As for Reese, he says running the company in such a way is something he enjoys.
"It's a fun business. It's a great business," Reese said.
Bonneville has received 21 "Crystal Awards" (for exemplary community service) during the past 13 years — or about 16 percent of all the awards given nationally.
"We're very proud of that and feel it's quite impressive for a company that owns less than one-fifth of 1 percent of the radio stations in the U.S. . . . ," said Craig Haslam, director of public affairs for Bonneville.
"In 2005, our stations gave back to our communities almost $82 million in donated air time, public service programming, cash and in-kind donations, and employee volunteer hours."
The company excels in another area, too.
"Bonneville leads the way when it comes to innovation," Banz said.
One such innovation is Bonneville simulcasting AM news radio on the FM dial. Since 80 percent of radio listeners favor the FM band, Bonneville has been putting KSL, AM-1160, radio on FM-102.7 in Salt Lake. It is doing the same in the Washington, D.C., market with WTOP and plans to follow that plan in Phoenix with a new station acquisition — KKFR — that will simulcast AM-620, KTAR, news/talk format on the FM.
Talmage Ball, vice president of broadcasting engineering for Bonneville, and his technical people are another reason for Bonne-ville's success.
Ball has been recognized as one of the top 20 most admired radio/TV engineers in the country by his peers. He said keeping radio stations on the air 24 hours a day, seven days a week, is no easy task.
"It's like repairing your bicycle while you are riding it," he said. "You have to fix it while it's running."
Church affiliation
Bonneville International — like the Deseret Morning News — is owned by Deseret Management Corp., a holding company for businesses affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Reese said the LDS Church ownership doesn't directly affect day-to-day radio station operations much, and he estimates that 75 percent of its 1,000 total employees are not LDS.
"There are so many things we can do," he said, and that outweighs any restrictions.
Reese admitted that Bonneville's ownership has affected station purchases, in that the company doesn't purchase stations that will not be in harmony with its owners' values and business principles.
And while the public may not know who owns Bonneville, Reese said everyone in the broadcast business knows of its LDS Church ownership.
Since Bonneville is not a public company, it has no stockholders to whom it must answer. But it publishes an annual "Values Report," available online at www.bonnint.com, which gives an accounting of its stations' involvement in their communities.
Wharton of the NAB said that unique report shows Bonneville's deep commitment to the community and "puts a dollar figure on the amount of community service performed at each station."
Focus on radio
And those radio stations will continue to represent the company's main direction.
"I think it's unlikely we'll acquire other TV stations," Reese said.
That's because TV is a more expensive and complicated entity to own, and the TV audience is more splintered than ever.
He said Bonneville is committed to the radio direction and expanding on that foundation.
So what does that mean for KSL-Ch. 5, Bonneville's only TV property? Rumors have circulated for several decades about a possible sale of KSL-TV.
"Wait for the next rumor," Reese said, with a smile. "We still own KSL."
Bonneville sold its other TV station, KIRO-TV, Seattle, in 1995. And Reese admitted there have been offers over the years to purchase KSL-TV.
"We've had lots of chances."
Looking for growth
And it still has chances to grow, as it has from the beginning.
When Bonneville started in 1964, founder Arch L. Madsen had a deep interest in international affairs and travel. Hence, the "International" in the company's name.
The company began trying to strategically blanket the nation geographically. However, as station ownership rules relaxed and times changed, the company began to consolidate into clusters, with an accent on the largest U.S. radio markets.
Today, Bonneville is in three top 10 markets — Chicago (No. 3); San Francisco (No. 4) and Washington, D.C. (No. 8). It is also in Phoenix (No. 15) and St. Louis (No. 20). The company needed a critical mass in each city. Stand-alone stations weren't efficient anymore.
"There aren't many mom-and-pop owned stations left," Reese said.
So what would company founder Madsen think of Bonneville today?
Reese believes he would be disappointed with Bonneville's ownership of just a single TV station. However, he would be proud of its journalistic commitments and its high level of community involvement.
"He'd wish we would have grown more. He was a real visionary," Reese said.
E-mail: lynn@desnews.com