General Tire and Rubber Company
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General Tire and Rubber Company is an American manufacturer of tires for motor vehicles.
General Tire was founded in 1915 in Akron, Ohio by William O'Neill. In 1943 General Tire branched out from its core business by purchasing The Yankee Network and its owned radio stations from Boston's Shepard Stores, Inc. Thomas P. O'Neill, son of the founder William O'Neill, served as Yankee's chairman with Shepard's John Shepard III serving as president.
General Tire continued its move into broadcasting by acquiring General Teleradio (the former Thomas S. Lee Enterprises/Don Lee Broadcasting System) in 1952, adding KHJ-AM/FM/TV Los Angeles, WOR-AM/FM/TV New York City and other stations to its stable from the Yankee acquisition.
General Tire's final move into entertainment was the acquisition of RKO Radio Pictures from Howard Hughes in 1955 for $25 million. General Tire was interested mainly in using the RKO film library to program his stations, so it sold the RKO lot at Sunset and Gower in Hollywood to Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's Desilu Productions in 1956 for $6 million. The remaining assets of RKO were merged with the broadcasting interests, and the new company eventually became known as RKO General. The radio stations became some of the leading broadcasters in the world, but the division was dragged down by unethical conduct at its television stations. This culminated in the longest licensing dispute in television history, eventually forcing RKO General out of the broadcasting business.
General Tire reorganized its holdings into the holding company GenCorp in 1984, with General Tire and RKO General as subsidiaries.
GenCorp sold General Tire to German tire maker Continental AG in 1987. General Tire still exists today as part of Continental's American operations.