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47-707: Cumulus Media Networks was an American radio network owned and operated by Cumulus Media . From 2011 until its merger with Westwood One , it controlled many of the radio assets formerly belonging to the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which was broken up in 2007; Cumulus owned the portion of the network that was purchased by Citadel Broadcasting that year. The network adopted its final name in September 2011, following Cumulus's acquisition of Citadel; prior to this, it had been known as Citadel Media Networks since April 2009, after licensing

94-522: A Federal Communications Commission investigation into the network's influence over advertising, strict ownership rules were introduced in 1941. RCA was compelled to sell one network and three local stations. RCA put an asking price of $ 8 million on the Blue network; after two years on the market, it was sold in 1943 to businessman Edward J. Noble , owner of Life Savers candy and the Rexall store chain, for

141-487: A comedy act with singer Van Fleming, called "The Two Professors". After a failed career move to New York City, McNeill returned to Illinois in 1933. McNeill applied for a job at NBC and was sent to Chicago to audition. He was assigned to host an unsponsored early morning variety show called The Pepper Pot , which had an 8 AM time slot on the NBC Blue Network (later to become ABC radio). McNeill re-organized

188-434: A concept called trunking is commonly used to achieve better efficiency of radio spectrum use and provide very wide-ranging coverage with no switching of channels required by the mobile radio user as it roams throughout the system coverage. Trunking of two-way radio is identical to the concept used for cellular phone systems where each fixed and mobile radio is specifically identified to the system controller and its operation

235-501: A notable three-hour guest appearance by Snyder on Ray Briem's program. However, the rising popularity of conservative talk radio , fueled by The Rush Limbaugh Show , led to the main network's demise. Limbaugh had been picked to replace Owen Spann on the main ABC Talkradio network after Spann was forced to retire due to medical issues. This occurred when former ABC executive Ed McLaughlin purchased Spann's former weekday slot with

282-412: A short time. Mark Levin was added in 2005 and eventually replaced Elder in 2007, and Mark Davis of WBAP had a brief syndication run on the network in 2005. Rush Limbaugh's program was not part of this network; following a series of mergers in the 1990s, Ed McLaughlin's company, EFM, was absorbed into Premiere Networks , a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications (now iHeartMedia ). Hannity has been

329-493: A total of 40 affiliates. Executives in charge of ABC Rock at the launch were vice president Tom Plant and program director Denise Oliver. The Direction Network was under ABC Entertainment Network's executive's charge, was for adult (25–45) format stations, and started with 57 affiliates. ABC Radio acquired Watermark Inc. , best known as the syndicator of American Top 40 with Casey Kasem and American Country Countdown with Bob Kingsley , in 1982. Kasem left ABC in 1988, reclaiming

376-600: A variety of networks. Radio networks rose rapidly with the growth of regular broadcasting of radio to home listeners in the 1920s. This growth took various paths in different places. In Britain the BBC was developed with public funding , in the form of a broadcast receiver license , and a broadcasting monopoly in its early decades. In contrast, in the United States various competing commercial broadcasting networks arose funded by advertising revenue. In that instance,

423-466: Is ABC Radio. To repeat: in Dallas, Texas, three shots were fired at President Kennedy's motorcade today. The president now making a two-day speaking tour of Texas. We're going to stand by for more details on the incident in Dallas. Stay tuned to your ABC station for further details. Now we return you to your regular program. Ralph Beaudin, group vice president of ABC Radio, came up with the idea of splitting

470-540: Is switched by the controller. The broadcast type of radio network is a network system which distributes programming to multiple stations simultaneously, or slightly delayed, for the purpose of extending total coverage beyond the limits of a single broadcast signal. The resulting expanded audience for radio programming or information essentially applies the benefits of mass-production to the broadcasting enterprise. A radio network has two sales departments, one to package and sell programs to radio stations, and one to sell

517-523: The National Barn Dance , running from 1924 to 1960, and Paul Harvey 's daily commentary, which ran from 1951 until his death in 2009. In 1958, ABC collaborated with its sister television network to produce the first national stereophonic sound broadcasts, when it simulcast The Plymouth Show (one of two shows hosted by Lawrence Welk at the time); the TV side broadcast one audio channel and

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564-565: The American Top 40 name from ABC in 1998, and selling the AT40 brand to AMFM Radio Networks (later absorbed into Premiere Networks ). Kingsley left ABC in 2005, and 'ACC' continues to air as part of the ABC stable, with Kix Brooks as host since 2006. Dick Bartley joined the network in 1991 with the AT40 spinoff American Gold and his live Saturday night call-in oldies show, before leaving at

611-560: The Blue Network while New York station WEAF and its affiliates (also absorbed into NBC) were known as the "Red Network". On the air, both were identified as "NBC, the National Broadcasting Company." The distinctions between the two networks were, beyond staff and advertisers, mostly a matter of the more popular and established programming appearing on NBC Red. Both NBC networks were owned by RCA; following

658-593: The original Westwood One a decade earlier. Cumulus Media Networks had its origins in an early network set up by WJZ (now WABC ) in New York City which provided programs to other stations over Western Union lines. WJZ radio , originally owned by Westinghouse and its informal network were absorbed into the National Broadcasting Company in 1927. To the parent company Radio Corporation of America , WJZ and affiliates were known as

705-525: The " ABC Radio Networks " name from The Walt Disney Company for nearly two years. ABC now operates ABC Audio which produces mostly short-form audio content for radio stations. As ABC Radio Networks, it was the penultimate of the original major radio networks to still be owned by its original founding company, CBS Radio being the last. The Mutual Broadcasting System and the NBC Radio Network were both dissolved in 1999 after both were sold to

752-617: The 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Radio network The two-way type of radio network shares many of the same technologies and components as the broadcast-type radio network but is generally set up with fixed broadcast points ( transmitters ) with co-located receivers and mobile receivers/transmitters or transceivers . In this way both the fixed and mobile radio units can communicate with each other over broad geographic regions ranging in size from small single cities to entire states/provinces or countries. There are many ways in which multiple fixed transmit/receive sites can be interconnected to achieve

799-471: The 2007 sale of the original ABC Radio, Inc. to Citadel Broadcasting and then subsequently to Cumulus Media, and again until 2015, when Radio Disney discontinued terrestrial broadcast service—with the exception of KRDC in Los Angeles, Disney/ABC owned and/or operated several radio stations in numerous markets, big and small. ABC also owned and operated several radio formats and networks , mostly during

846-683: The ABC Radio Network into four different networks. He felt that there was more product than stations could broadcast, causing a sale issue. The four separate networks would allow advertisers to better market to their preferred audience. Paul Harvey and the Breakfast Club were designated as Entertainment network features. Before the split, ABC obtained a waiver of the FCC's "Chain Broadcasting" rule on December 29, 1967, which had forced

893-624: The Cumulus stations in 2020 when Westwood One made the decision to fold its news division . The merger of Cumulus Media Networks into Westwood One was completed in mid-2015. In 1989, ABC Radio Networks acquired the Satellite Music Network which originally started in Chicago. Full-time music formats operated by ABC Radio, Citadel Media and Cumulus Media include the following: From the very beginning of its broadcast days until

940-602: The asking price. After Noble took over, the network identified itself on-air as "The Blue Network". It was officially renamed American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., in June 1945, after the company bought the rights to the name from (what would later become) Storer Broadcasting . With about 65 affiliates, ABC began with few of the big names and popular shows the other networks offered, so counter-programming became an ABC specialty. Industry policy had been to forbid taped or pre-recorded programs; ABC lured some big-name stars by adapting

987-508: The audience of those programs to advertisers. Most radio networks also produce much of their programming. Originally, radio networks owned some or all of the stations that broadcast the network's radio format programming. Presently however, there are many networks that do not own any stations and only produce and/or distribute programming. Similarly station ownership does not always indicate network affiliation. A company might own stations in several different markets and purchase programming from

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1034-727: The branding of this network from ABC Radio to "Citadel Media" to reflect its current ownership of a major radio network. However, "ABC News"; and its programming/satellite format listings would remain. Cumulus Media absorbed all the assets of Citadel Broadcasting, including Citadel Media in September 2011, and the name change to "Cumulus Media Networks" immediately took effect upon acquisition. Previously, Citadel turned down previous acquisition offers months after emerging from bankruptcy. On August 29, 2013, Cumulus Broadcasting purchased Dial Global ( Westwood One as of September 4). Cumulus paid $ 260 million in cash for this programming syndication service, part of which has paid off Dial's debt before it

1081-425: The content, allowing stations to use it with their branding. As an example, Cumulus stated that its "Nash"-branded country stations would run the content under the " Nash News" name. The programming deal started on January 1, 2015, when its broadcasting rights to ABC's news division expired. ABC relaunched an entirely new ABC Radio network (known as ABC Audio as of 2019). ABC Audio renewed its affiliation with most of

1128-473: The end of March 2009. ABC launched a foray into talk radio with ABC Talkradio (similar to rival NBC's Talknet ) in 1982. Among its most notable hosts were Michael Jackson , Owen Spann , Toni Grant and Ray Briem . In 1987, an adjunctive network internally known as "ABC Radio Talk" was launched to wrest some programming control away from local ABC station KABC in Los Angeles. Tom Snyder and Barry Farber were featured on this secondary network, following

1175-581: The five ESPN Radio stations (or the myriad of Radio Disney stations) Disney owned at the time, or any of ABC's television assets (the ABC name, which also remained in Disney's hands, would be licensed to Citadel for two years). Disney 's ABC News unit will also still produce ABC News Radio programming for distribution by Citadel. Despite the change in ownership, Citadel Media still listed "ESPN Radio" & "ESPN Deportes" as part of its advertising sales family. The acquisition of ABC Radio by Citadel Broadcasting

1222-530: The hour show as The Breakfast Club , dividing it into four segments he called "the four calls to breakfast". The show premiered on June 23, 1933, with informal talk and jokes based on topical events, and often included audience interviews. Each show started with the announcement "Coming to you from high atop the Hotel Atherton in downtown Chicago, it's The Breakfast Club, with your host Don McNeill" followed by brief live audience applause. In its final form,

1269-461: The idea of giving Limbaugh a national platform following his initial success on KFBK in Sacramento . After Tom Snyder's retirement in 1992, ABC ostensibly filled his weeknight slot with Leslie Marshall , at the time the youngest syndicated host ever, while most major affiliates instead picked up Limbaugh. ABC's national talk programming efforts ended shortly thereafter, though one program from

1316-499: The latter took umbrage that Bleyer had taken time off from the Godfrey show to record McNeill, who Godfrey considered a competitor despite the fact Godfrey's shows had far broader appeal. In October 1953, on the same day Godfrey fired singer Julius LaRosa on the air, Godfrey privately dismissed Bleyer for recording McNeill. McNeill attempted to transfer the show to television as Don McNeill's TV Club (1950–1951). The Breakfast Club

1363-460: The most successful, displacing Laura Schlessinger as the most popular host in the time slot within a few years (especially on the East Coast); the network shared the program with Premiere Radio Networks from 2008 to 2013 before Premiere took over the program entirely beginning in 2014. In 2005, ABC began to explore the sale of its radio division. The two leading competitors for the purchase of

1410-535: The network required affiliates to get approval before any delayed broadcast of network programming. The new networks were launched on January 1, 1968. Two additional networks, ABC Rock Network and ABC Direction Network, were added on January 4, 1982. ABC Rock's anchor affiliate was WPLJ in New York City, and many album-oriented rock -formatted stations moved from the American FM Network, with

1457-521: The network, which included twenty-two of ABC Radio's top stations, as well as ABC's talk and music networks, were Bala Cynwyd -based Entercom Communications and Forstmann Little & Company 's Citadel Broadcasting unit. Citadel was chosen as the top bidder and the deal to purchase the stations and the network was struck in February 2006. The deal did not include Radio Disney , ESPN Radio (or its Spanish counterpart, ESPN Deportes Radio ), any of

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1504-550: The original Talkradio/Weekend network, Bob Brinker 's Moneytalk , remained on the air until 2018. ABC acquired the Satellite Music Network , the first satellite-delivered music radio network, and its nine channels of programming in 1989. The division continues to operate semi-autonomously as Cumulus Music Radio at Cumulus's Dallas-Fort Worth cluster. ESPN Radio Network was formed in September 1991 by both ESPN Inc. and Capital Cities/ABC , Inc.'s ABC Radio Networks and launched as Sports Radio ESPN on January 1, 1992. Radio Disney

1551-517: The radio side broadcast the other in synchronization; viewers had to tune into both devices to achieve the stereophonic effect. ABC Radio broadcast the first nationwide report of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy . Kennedy was shot in a motorcade in Dallas , Texas , at 18:30 UTC on November 22, 1963, and ABC Radio's Don Gardiner anchored the network's initial bulletin at 18:36:50 UTC, minutes before any other radio or television network did

1598-434: The range of coverage required by the jurisdiction or authority implementing the system: conventional wireless links in numerous frequency bands, fibre-optic links, or microwave links. In all of these cases the signals are typically backhauled to a central switch of some type where the radio message is processed and resent (repeated) to all transmitter sites where it is required to be heard. In contemporary two-way radio systems

1645-409: The sale of the Blue network in 1943. Though each of the four new networks was carried on the same 5 kHz telco line (3.5 in some cities), the move allowed ABC to have as many as four affiliates in one city, a major competitive advantage and a dramatic turning point in the history of network radio. However, the FCC insisted that there be no overlap of any ABC network broadcast in a single market, and

1692-537: The same corporation that owned or operated the network often manufactured and marketed the listener's radio. Major technical challenges to be overcome when distributing programs over long distances are maintaining signal quality and managing the number of switching/relay points in the signal chain . Early on, programs were sent to remote stations (either owned or affiliated) by various methods, including leased telephone lines, pre-recorded gramophone records and audio tape. The world's first all-radio, non-wireline network

1739-444: The same. A surviving aircheck from New York shortwave station WRUL includes the first ABC Radio bulletin. Gardiner interrupts Doris Day 's recording of " Hooray for Hollywood " to tell listeners at 13:36:50 EST (UTC−5): We interrupt this program to bring you a special bulletin from ABC Radio. Here is a special bulletin from Dallas, Texas: three shots were fired at President Kennedy's motorcade today in downtown Dallas, Texas. This

1786-538: The show featured piano music and vocal groups and soloists, with recurring comedy performers. McNeil gained a sponsor, Swift and Company . McNeill is credited as the first performer to make morning talk and variety a viable format in radio. Archie Bleyer , who led the band for Arthur Godfrey 's daily Arthur Godfrey Time on CBS radio, had founded Cadence Records in 1953. That year, Bleyer traveled to Chicago to record some patriotic spoken word recordings by McNeill. Although Breakfast Club ratings were below Godfrey's,

1833-771: The tape technology developed in World War II. To add to its programming, ABC bought stations KECA (now KABC ) in Los Angeles and WXYZ (now WXYT ) in Detroit , the latter home and originator of many popular serials such as The Lone Ranger . Financially unable to match the larger networks, NBC and CBS, ABC merged with United Paramount Theaters early in 1953. Through the 1950s, network radio declined in popularity, and ABC radio gradually became more oriented to its local stations, especially its two pop-music powerhouses, New York's WABC (formerly WJZ) and Chicago's WLS (which

1880-564: Was an American radio personality, best known as the creator and host of The Breakfast Club , which ran for more than 35 years. McNeill was born in Galena, Illinois , son of Harry T. McNeill and Luella R. Weinberger. The family soon moved to Sheboygan, Wisconsin , and he later graduated from Marquette University just to the south in Milwaukee . He was a first cousin of United States Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger ; McNeill's mother

1927-559: Was claimed to be the Rural Radio Network , a group of six upstate New York FM stations that began operation in June 1948. Terrestrial microwave relay, a technology later introduced to link stations, has been largely supplanted by coaxial cable , fiber , and satellite , which usually offer superior cost-benefit ratios. Many early radio networks evolved into Television networks . Don McNeill (performer) Donald T. McNeill (December 23, 1907 – May 7, 1996)

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1974-415: Was folded into this network service. Cumulus funded the sale by making a pair of station deals with Townsquare Media . On July 31, 2014, Cumulus acquired the rights to CNN 's content to distribute to radio stations (the company had held CNN radio rights since its acquisition of Dial Global, but CNN had not produced any radio content since April 2012). The newly acquired Westwood One network would distribute

2021-498: Was officially completed on June 12, 2007 and the "ABC Radio Networks" logo was licensed from Disney until April 2, 2009. Shortly after the announcement of the ABC/Citadel merger, the "FM" network was reactivated. It now provides an hourly, two-minute newscast, similar in format to when the network formerly operated. Those newscasts carry the on-air brand "ABC News Now". On April 2, 2009, the staff at Citadel Broadcasting changed

2068-555: Was owned and operated by the Prairie Farmer in a time-share arrangement with ABC-owned WENR until both stations merged in 1954; ABC acquired the Farmer's minority stake in 1959). Some network shows survived the transition to television: Don McNeill's Breakfast Club , one of the country's first and longest-running morning programs, aired from 1933 to 1968 with Don McNeill as the host. Other long-running ABC programs included

2115-412: Was simulcast on television in 1954–1955. McNeill appeared occasionally on game shows , and in 1963 hosted a short-lived game show Take Two , built around photo comparisons. McNeill's radio series finally ended in 1968, when McNeill retired from entertainment and public life. After his radio career ended, McNeill taught communication arts classes at Marquette and Notre Dame from 1970 to 1972, represented

2162-439: Was test-launched on November 18, 1996, in four markets by ABC Radio Networks, with a Los Angeles station added on August 26, 1997. ABC again began building a talk network, this time with an emphasis on political talk, in 2001. Among the first hosts heard on the new ABC talk network were Sam Donaldson of ABC News television, Sean Hannity of WABC, Larry Elder of KABC, and John Batchelor of WABC. Donaldson left his show after

2209-573: Was the elder sister of Weinberger's father. McNeill began his radio career in Milwaukee in 1928, first as a script editor and announcer at The Milwaukee Sentinel 's WISN , and later working for crosstown competitor WTMJ , owned by Sentinel rival The Milwaukee Journal . McNeill moved on to Kentucky , working for the Louisville Courier-Journal ' s station, WHAS . This was followed by working in San Francisco as

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