Gray Television is buying Cedar Rapids ABC affiliate KCRG from The Gazette Company for a reported $100 million in cash.
This will be the 46th market for Gray and its first Iowa station.
“I don’t think people will know the station is owned by Gray,” Gray svp Kevin Latek told The Gazette. “We don’t put our name on the building. We don’t put our name on the newscast. KCRG-TV9 is the brand. That’s what matters.”
In a talk Tuesday with employees, Latek drove home the point by saying that one of the company’s stations decided to have an on-air contest that offered a shotgun as a prize. At a subsequent meeting of the company’s general managers, he said half thought he was “nuts” for allowing it and half wanted to know if they could give away shotguns, too.
“We don’t care. It’s a local market decision,” he said. “If you’re not running around with scissors, keep running.”