Newseum Announces $5 Million Gift from Hubbard Broadcasting

The Newseum and Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc. announced Thursday the family-owned, independent national media company has made a $5 million gift to the Newseum to help support its mission to educate the public about the value of a free and fair press, and all five freedoms of the First Amendment, according to a news release from the Newseum.

With this gift, Hubbard Broadcasting becomes the museum’s 16th Founding Partner, joining a long list of families, foundations and corporations that have made contributions to the Newseum. To recognize this gift, the Newseum’s Concourse Level will be named the Hubbard Broadcasting Concourse.

“Our family has always been a strong advocate of a free press,” said Stanley S. Hubbard, chairman and CEO of Hubbard Broadcasting. “Because it is the only institution solely devoted to educating the public about the fundamental value of First Amendment freedoms and free expression, the Newseum is a great gift to the nation and the world. It’s an honor for our family and our company to help support this noble cause.”

Hubbard Broadcasting owns 14 TV stations and 48 radio stations across the country and also owns and operates the independent cable and satellite network REELZ TV. Its flagship station is KSTP-TV in St. Paul, Minn., where Hubbard is headquartered. Hubbard Broadcasting also owns F&F Productions (a premier HDTV remote production facilities company) and the Hubbard Radio Network, which distributes talk radio content to subscribing radio stations in Minnesota and North Dakota.

Hubbard Broadcasting is also a controlling shareholder of Ovation TV, the only cable/satellite network devoted exclusively to art and personal creativity. In Washington, D.C., the Hubbard-owned radio station WTOP AM and FM has for many years co-sponsored a program that allows students in the Washington metropolitan area to visit the Newseum free of charge. More than 250,000 students have received free admission to the Newseum since the program began.

The Hubbard family’s association with the Newseum began in 2004, when they donated the world’s first satellite news gathering (SNG) truck, CONUS 1, to the Newseum, where it is displayed on the Concourse Level. This technology, which was developed and implemented by the Hubbards in 1984, ushered in the era of the live TV news shot from almost any location, far beyond traditional line-of-sight limitations.

“Stanley and his wife Karen and their children, Kari, Stan, Ginny, Robert and Julia, are true champions of freedom and we are very thankful for their longtime support,” said Peter S. Prichard, chairman and CEO of the Newseum. “We work hard every day to preserve and defend America’s fundamental freedoms and the right to free expression, and we would not be able to do that without generous and visionary supporters like the Hubbards.”

PHOTO: Hubbard family photo courtesy of the Newseum