Alltel Communications is a broadcasting company formed together by the merging of Barnes Communications, Chestnut Communications, Evans Communications, Flinn Broadcasting, and Tunica Communications. Although the current total stands at 176 stations, Alltel did announce that they would sell some stations to get under the cap as close as possible.
History[]
The history of Alltel Communications is traced back to Tunica Communications and their owners, Jeff Robinson and Jamie Winslow. Tunica was having trouble competing in markets with Adelphia Communications, BeloOne, Young, and AZ Broadcasting. Likewise, Flinn Broadcasting was experiencing the same problem, and that's when Flinn Broadcasting CEO George Flinn and Tunica owner Jeff Robinson started talking. Tunica Communications CEO Ronnie Kingston and his counterpart at Chestnut, Ralph Simpson, was having the same conversation, and it was decided that Chestnut, Tunica and Flinn would merge. Not to be left out in the cold, both Barnes Communications and Evans Communications wanted in the act as well, and as a result, the five companies merged into one big new company: Alltel Communications, with Ronnie Kingston as the CEO, and Ralph Simpson as the COO of the merged company.