User:Jack Spinner

Ralph E. Becker, a graduate of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Illinois closed the first ever leverage buyout of a group of Television Stations when Becker and his partner, I. Martin Pompadur, heavily leveraged the buyout of four television stations as Becker had managed under the umbrella of a separate company. The title of the entity was Television Station Partners, LP. Pompadur, a former ABC Television executive, took the role as Chairman while Becker acted as the Chief Operating Officer. This first leveraged buyout of television stations occurred on March 23, 1983. It changed how commercial television would be bought and sold.