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28-548: Westwood One, Inc. is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media . The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One , a company founded in 1976. The company was, at various times, managed by CBS Radio , the radio arm of CBS Corporation and Viacom . It was later purchased by the private equity firm The Gores Group before merging with Dial Global in 2011. In December 2013, Dial Global was, in turn, acquired by Cumulus Media . Prior to

56-434: 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

84-641: A country music format separate from the Radio Disney network but still carrying the Radio Disney brand. Its license, along with ESPN Radio's KSPN , have remained held by "ABC Radio Los Angeles Assets." On August 7, 2014, ABC announced that it would relaunch its radio network division on January 1, 2015. The change occurred following the announcement that Cumulus would replace its ABC News radio service with Westwood One News (via CNN ). ABC will continue to make its radio news programming (via ABC News Radio and its FM counterpart ABC News Now ) available through

112-647: A deal in August 2018 to syndicate “The Dana Cortez Show” morning show formerly on “98.5 The Beat” KBBT San Antonio. Around 2015, ABC News began experimenting with podcasts and added an audio channel to its app. On March 28, 2018, the company began its first daily podcast, Start Here . Paula Faris launched a podcast on November 13, 2018, with three episodes of Journeys of Faith . Local Radio Networks moved its twelve 24/7 music formats on January 1, 2019, to ABC Radio for marketing and talent sharing and Skyview Networks for satellite distribution. ABC News Radio programming

140-533: A few stations outside its original network primarily for ESPN Radio as of December 18, 2015 until 2023, pulled its content from Cumulus on January 1, 2015; and NBC, after having its content dropped from Westwood One in 2015, moved its content to iHeartMedia in 2016.) Among the numerous other holdings Cumulus now controls are the libraries of Transtar, RKO , Waitt, Jones, BPI, Watermark , and Drake-Chenault . The company's numerous acquisitions prompted rival Talk Radio Network to file an antitrust lawsuit against what

168-650: A number of different owners ( Capital Cities Communications and later Disney), the radio division remained under ABC's wing until June 12, 2007, when it was sold to Citadel Broadcasting as well as most of its O&O stations in a restructuring effort. Under the terms of the reverse Morris trust , ABC shareholders held a controlling stake in Citadel, who licensed the ABC name for two more years until it rebranded as Citadel Media Networks in 2009. On September 16, 2011, Cumulus Media purchased Citadel Broadcasting and rebranded

196-608: A possible side effect of its numerous acquisitions. On November 15 of that year, Dial Global announced a disappointing third quarter that it attributed in part to the financial impact of its exposure to the controversy surrounding a certain controversial talk personality, which was widely assumed to be a veiled reference to Rush Limbaugh in the wake of the Rush Limbaugh–Sandra Fluke controversy (although Limbaugh has no direct association with Dial Global). It simultaneously announced that it had filed for delisting from NASDAQ. At

224-600: 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,

252-489: Is a radio syndicator , radio network and digital audio network in the United States . It is under the ownership of The Walt Disney Company , parent company of American Broadcasting Company (ABC), with satellite distribution being handled by Linkup Communications. It launched on January 1, 2015, as ABC Radio ; it was renamed ABC Audio in 2019. ABC Radio originally began after the split of NBC Red and NBC Blue (later Blue Network ) networks with ABC taking over operations of

280-540: 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

308-535: The National Football League 's main radio package . Dial Global was founded as X Radio Networks, a division of Excelsior Radio Networks. It merged with Dial Communications and Global Media in 2006, from which it derived the Dial Global name. Dial Global initially specialized in syndicated weekend music programs of various types. In 2007 it acquired the former Transtar Radio Networks from

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336-508: 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

364-474: 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

392-692: The latter from RCA in 1943 before adopting its name 2 years later. ABC Radio was known to 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 followed suit. The networks associated with ABC included Watermark Inc. (which ABC bought in 1982), Satellite Music Network (a 1989 purchase), ESPN Radio (launched in 1992) and Radio Disney (debuted in 1996). Despite

420-504: The network division as Cumulus Media Networks. In 2013, Cumulus Media Networks merged with Dial Global Radio Networks to form the current Westwood One . ABC maintained ownership of its Radio Disney network and its ESPN Radio owned-and-operated stations. In 2015, it announced plans to sell off all but one of its Radio Disney station licenses and stop distributing that network through terrestrial radio. The network succeeded in selling off most of its stations, leaving only KRDC ; KRDC flipped to

448-696: The network, and will also expand to create new radio programming based on other ABC owned properties such as Good Morning America , Dancing With The Stars and Jimmy Kimmel Live . Skyview Networks would handle advertising sales and satellite distribution. By December 23, 2014, ABC News had signed up over 1,000 affiliated stations for at least one of ABC News, ABC Digital and ABC Air Power networks. This included 200 new affiliates and multiple stations affiliating with more than one service. Major new key affiliates added included WTOP-FM , WGN and KFI . In April 2018, ABC announced that it planned to develop new syndicated radio programs with Skyview. The pair made

476-464: The original Westwood One. Triton Media Group , a subsidiary of Oaktree Capital Management , purchased Excelsior in early 2008, and soon bought two of its three main competitors: Waitt Radio Networks and Jones Radio Networks . Triton used the Dial Global name for all of its programming and later bought the remainder of Westwood One in 2011, folding it into its Dial Global subsidiary. Dial Global began exhibiting signs of financial distress in late 2012,

504-434: 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

532-571: The sale's completion, Dial Global re-assumed the Westwood One name. After the completion of the purchase, Westwood One was merged into the Cumulus Media Networks division (the former ABC Radio Networks). Content syndicated by Westwood One includes talk shows, music programs and 24-hour formats. It is particularly prominent in sports radio, distributing Infinity Sports Network and holding various play-by-play rights, including

560-508: The sale, Cumulus sold 53 radio stations to Townsquare Media (a radio broadcasting company owned by Oaktree), and traded 15 more stations to Townsquare in exchange for a cluster in Fresno, California formerly owned by Peak Broadcasting—which was also being acquired by Townsquare. On September 4, 2013, ahead of the completion of the purchase, Dial Global announced that it would rename itself Westwood One, citing stronger name recognition. The sale

588-537: 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

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616-442: The time of the announcement, Dial Global stock was trading at $ 2.00 a share; by mid-January 2013, DG's stock was trading at .30 a share. In a SEC 8-K filing dated January 15, 2013, DG announced that it had extended a loan waiver agreement with certain lenders. On August 29, 2013, Cumulus Broadcasting announced its intent to acquire Dial Global for $ 260 million, and merge it into its existing Cumulus Media Networks division. To fund

644-563: 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 . ABC Radio (United States) ABC Audio

672-588: Was completed on December 12, 2013. As a result of all of these acquisitions, Cumulus Media now controls the remnants of all four of the major networks from the Golden Age of Radio : the former NBC Radio Network , the Mutual Broadcasting System , the distribution rights to most of CBS , the former ABC Radio Network, and CBS Sports Radio ( CBS Radio owned stations, but were merged with Entercom on November 17, 2017; ABC , which still owns

700-458: Was previously offered to Local Radio affiliates. Vice president and general manager Steve Jones left April 4, 2019 to work at Skyview. For the interim, four ABC News executive would head up ABC Radio: ABC News executive director, programming/news coverage Andrew Kalb, ABC News senior manager, business development Abe Velez, ABC Radio director of affiliate relations Heidi Oringer and ABC News Radio executive director of operations Jeff Fitzgerald. He

728-465: Was replaced in May 2019 by Stacia Philips Deshishku promoted from the position of Washington Deputy Bureau Chief. On September 20, 2019, ABC Radio was renamed as ABC Audio as the network has evolved to offer a podcast portfolio and other forms of on-demand and linear content. Vice president Deshishku, who made the announcement acknowledges that "the power of radio remains critical to our business, as does

756-460: Was spun off to The E. W. Scripps Company in October 2018; as Scripps does not operate radio stations (it had a brief foray in the medium after its acquisition of Journal Media Group , but divested its stations in 2018), the radio-related assets remain in the possession of Westwood One. Radio network The two-way type of radio network shares many of the same technologies and components as

784-1233: Was then Dial Global in August 2012. Cumulus settled the lawsuit with TRN on amicable terms in March 2014, which was followed by TRN filing another lawsuit over the issue in April 2016. Cumulus won the lawsuit in late 2017, and TRN ceased operations at the end of that year. By 2015, Westwood One had been fully integrated into Cumulus Media Networks , with Westwood One as the surviving brand. The merger resulted in layoffs from its Westwood One's facilities in Colorado, including some of its in-house airstaff (who would be offered vacant positions at Cumulus stations). The company stated that it planned to leverage talent from Cumulus's local stations (particularly in major markets) for its 24-hour formats. Cumulus filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November 2017. In January 2018, it began moving to terminate its broadcast contracts, including those through Westwood One. It emerged from bankruptcy protection in June 2018. Triton Media Group, by this point rebranded as Triton Digital ,

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