The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 61

flews Cover Story HIS TV FIGHT AMILY HOLI In the fall of 1986 Kohlberg Kravis put WTVJ back on the market and CBS stepped in The network wanted to buy the station but not at Kohlberg Kravis' price CBS wanted to pay about $170 million and apparently figured that it could drive the price of the station down to that through a complicated scenario involving Channel 6 Taft Broadcasting wanted to sell Channel 6 and four other independent television stations after the Cincinnati-based broadcasting company decided to concentrate on its network-affiliated stations CBS hinted it would be interested in buying Channel 6 because as an independent television station it could be had for about $100 million The way CBS figured it it could move its network affiliation over to Channel 6 which would scare off anv potential buyer for WTVJ If WTVJ lost its CBS affiliation it would be worth no more than the less-expensive Channel 6 CBS however count on NBC For many years NBC had wanted to buy Ansin's station But he sell So when the CBS station came on the market NBC set up a sister company to purchase WTVJ in January of this year Then network officials came to Miami to break the bad news to WSVN-Channel 7 station owner Edmund Ansin The purchase price was $270 million or $100 million more than CBS wanted to pay "While CBS was trying to force the price down NBC stepped in and took the station away from them" said Dennis McAlpine media analyst with Oppenheimer Co in New York NBC has said it would honor contract until it expires in January 1989 and would operate WTVJ as a CBS affiliate But CBS says it stay at WTVJ if NBC owns it And Ansin says fighting the whole deal The case rests now with the Federal Communications Commission which is expected to make a decision next month By JOAN CHRISSOS Herald Jusmrss Unlcr FORGET Dallas or Dynasty For a tale of high-stakes poker and power tune in to the Miami television market they write the book on television in the 1980s they have to start with Miami" said media analyst Bruce Bishop Cheen The first chapter would begin in 1984 On April 12 the New York investment group of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts Co acquired Wometco Enterprises for $812 million As part of that deal Kohlberg Kravis bought WTVJ-Channel 4 the Miami CBS affiliate that Col Mitchell Wolfson founded in 1949 From that day forward the rumors circulated that Kohlberg Kravis a group known for buying and selling companies with big bucks from borrowed sources would put Channel 4 on the market It finally did 18 months later By then Kohlberg Kravis had purchased for $25 billion another Miami media property Storer Communications The Federal Communications Commission decided Kohlberg Kravis' control of CBS station and cable systems in Dade and Broward counties gave too much power to one entity in one market So Kohlberg Kravis scouted around and in May 1986 found a buyer in Lori-mar-Telepictures the Culver City Calif-based producer of Dallas Knot's Landing and Falcon Crest Lorimar said it would buy WTVJ-Channel 4 and six Storer TV stations for $18 billion Initially the California company said it would pay a whopping $405 million for WTVJ high by industry standards But five months later it decided the price was too steep A few weeks later Lorimar pulled out of the entire deal Ansin family analysts estimate probably owned about 75 percent of Miramar although some of their land has since been sold off to other developers "Ed Ansin has got to be one of the single largest individual land owners in southwest Broward County" said Michael Weiss as associate in Coldwell Banker's Broward County office In Dade the Ansin family developed Andover Estates a 400-acre single-family home apartment and retail development just south of the Dade-Broward line between US 441 and Florida's Turnpike They also developed two large shopping shopping centers at 19904 NW Second Ave and 20605 NW Second Ave now worth several million dollars That was in the mid-1960s For the next dozen years the Ansin real estate business was quiet Sidney Ansin died in 1971 and Ed Ansin started running his TV station WSVN-Channel 7 In the early however Ed Ansin started de eloping some of his property Miramar Park of Commerce a 160-acre industrial park situated between 1-75 and Turnpike just south of Miramar Parkway About 1000 acres outside Indianapolis some of which he now is developing into an industrialretail park California property outside Bakersfield which Ansin is selling in 20-acre lots for development It is a vast empire one that has been put together slowly Sidney say friends was more the speculator Ed the long-term investor who holds accumulate and builds piece-by-piece once was on the phone with Ed kidding around with him" said Channel news director David Choate said you own half the state of Florida' replied only the best Ed in 1963 By JOAN CHRISSOS Heruld Jusmcss Wrifer TO hear Ed Ansin tell it his father got his start in the real estate business to cure his health problems shoe business gave him high-blood pressure and real estate said Ansin the owner of WSVN-Channel 7 and probably one of the largest single land owners in South Florida father Sidney had been in the shoe business most of his life Sidney Ansin and his father Abraham started the Ansin Shoe Manufacturing Co in Massachusetts in 1925 But when he moved to Miami in 1911 the elder Ansin began dabbling in real estate Initially son Ed said his father started speculating in buildings and property in Miami His dad for example built one of the early shopping centers at the corner of Northwest 38th Street and 27th Avenue In the mid-to-late however Sidney Ansin got serious purchasing a 1000-acre tract between Dade and Broward counties near US 441 His goal: Cash in on the home-building boom fueled by returning GIs moving to Florida after World War II One of his first projects was Miami Gardens a residential-commercial development north of the Dade-Broward line Sidney Ansin then moved up the coast to Indian River County where he bought hundreds of acres in the early '50s There he developed Vero Lakes Estates and bought some farm land Sidney Ansin ventured too over into Charlotte County on the w-est coast buying grazing and agricultural land But probably the biggest fief-dom is the land on the Dade-Broward Line from Miami Gardens to Miramar The Sidney Ansin and and I were very son NBC he seem like a big spender to you Have you ever seen someone in his position live like he Ed Ansin's brother Ronald contract with NBC essentially the same type of contract in existence since 1962 doubt about it" said Milledge of his client did feel Ansin's critics think his attitude is little more than posturing to get NBC to buy out his contract at a premium price If the sale is approved and NBC has to honor contract while it owns WTVJ it would be an expensive proposition for the network is positioning himself to make the best deal" said Bill Ryan vice president and general manager of WPLG-Channel 1 0 Even some of Ansin's own people say he should sell it was me sell" said David Choate the station's news director Monday May 25 1987 bm The MIAMI HERALD and he is very difficult to know" said Richard Wolfson nephew of Mitchell and a friend of the family his ex-wife be more different she throws herself into whatever interests Ansin's brother noted the differences think the fact that she is and was as vivacious as he was quiet organized and serious was an Ronald said Ansin comment about his former marriage and Toby Ansin commented only briefly have nothing to say except that Ed Ansin and I raised three lovely The children are Andrew 23 who works at the station James 21 a student at Brown University and Stephanie 15 who lives with her mother The attraction of opposites may have something to do with Ansin dating Sally Fitz the anchorwoman at Channel 7 go with Sally" Ansin said casually They recently vacationed together in Europe Ansin as organized and deliberate as ever scheduled his vacation during the down time in his combat with NBC after filing petitions with the FCC in opposition to the $270 million sale His opposition his friends and staffers general manager Ansin contacted his attorney Milledge For two months they discussed their options slowly studiously Milledge said before Ansin made the decision to oppose the sale Said Ansin it got to the point that I realized that CBS was seriously considering buying Channel 6 then it became clear to me that we simply have to fight this thing that we have an interest to But his decision he said is more than personal He said what the network is trying to do is leverage out anyone who keeps it from higher profits particularly individual station owners like himself He is one of the few remaining private individuals to own a television station in the country Only a few weeks before the bad news Ansin had signed a two-year affiliation insist has nothing to do with potential loss of income for what" asked brother Ronald he seem like a big spender to you? Do you think he really needs money to support his life style? Have you ever seen someone in his position live like he does?" Ronald noted his response to his Forbes 400 fame shook his head and said know this is kind of silly What doing is valuing the station I'm doing the same job done since 1962 only the television station has become more The rapid appreciation of television properties is undoubtedly one of the primary reasons for the NBC proposed purchase of WTVJ After the on the Bay lunch with NBC's Mapes and Raymond Timothy a network group vice president and Robert Leider Channel vice president and But to his admirers not Ed Ansin a man who can take the rest of his life off but goes to work every day at the station because fundamentally what I do think a fiber within Ed" said Leider the station's general manager Channel 7 is a part of Ed being It would be unthinkable for him to even sell it part of his life and you sell part of your life especially an Ed Ansin" Explained Ansin gets.