The Marks Group

Marks entered the broadcast ownership business in 1983 when he acquired 51 percent of Thunder Bay Broadcasting, which owned WBKB-TV, the only television station in Alpena, Michigan. Marks, a native of Maryland, had previously worked as a copywriter at WINX in Rockville, Maryland, before being employed by the Mutual Broadcasting System.^[1]

Marks acquired KXGN radio and television in Glendive, Montana, in 1990. KXGN-TV, like WBKB-TV in Alpena, was the only TV station in its town, a fact Marks liked as it could then command all television advertising revenue in the market.^[2][3] This transaction, as well as the purchase of Glendive FM station KDZN in 1995, required waivers on account of the financial condition of the small-market stations.^[4] Further Montana broadcast properties were added with the 1995 purchase of KYUS-TV in Miles City^[5] and the 1996 acquisition of KIKC-AM-FM in Forsyth.^[6]

In 2003 Marks acquired WBKP and WBUP, together serving the Marquette, Michigan, television market.^[7] Added in 2015 were four stations owned by Heartland Communications in Iron River, Michigan, and Park Falls, Wisconsin.^[8]

Stephen Marks died on May 11, 2022, at the age of 72.^[1][9] His widow Mary and family began selling the broadcast properties in 2023. GSB Broadcasting acquired WOWZ-FM in Accomac, Virginia, which it already was programming, in April,^[10] while the Park Falls stations went to Civic Media in a deal announced in June.^[11] In September, Morgan Murphy Media acquired the Michigan broadcasting properties—WBKB-TV, WBKP, WBUP, and the Houghton and Iron River radio stations—for $13.375 million.^[12] The Montana and North Dakota radio stations were sold to Andrew Sturlaugson's P&A Media for $850,000 in February 2024,^[13] leaving only KXGN-TV and KYUS-TV in the Marks Group; Sturlaugson had been the operations manager for the Glendive stations.^[14]

In July 2025, the Marks Group announced that they would sell their last two stations to Montana State University (who own Montana PBS) for $375,000;^[15] the remainder of KXGN-TV and KYUS-TV's value will be credited as a donation.^[16]

• Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state and city of license.
• Two boldface asterisks appearing following a station's call letters (**) indicate a station built and signed on by The Marks Group.