American radio network (under this name since 2013)
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 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 the
CBS Sports Radio
network and holding various play-by-play rights, including the
National Football League
's
main radio package
.
History
[
edit
]
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 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, 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.
[1]
At 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.
[2]
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 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.
[3]
[4]
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.
[5]
[6]
The sale 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 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 was then Dial Global in August 2012.
[7]
Cumulus settled the lawsuit with TRN on amicable terms in March 2014,
[8]
which was followed by TRN filing another lawsuit over the issue in April 2016.
[9]
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.
[10]
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
, 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.
[11]
Talk programming
[
edit
]
Sports programming
[
edit
]
- CBS Sports Radio
- Olympics on Westwood One
- NBC Sunday Night Football
- Triple Crown on NBC
- NFL on Westwood One Sports
(
Monday Night Football
,
Sunday Night Football
,
Thursday Night Football
,
Thanksgiving games
and
all playoff games
)
- PGA Tour
:
The Masters
and
PGA Championship
- Tennis
- UFC
Radio Network
- NCAA
Radio Network
- Football: regular season games,
SEC Championship Game
,
Army?Navy Game
,
FCS Championship
- Basketball: regular season games,
conference championship week
,
NIT
semifinals and finals,
NCAA men's tournament
(all games),
NCAA women's tournament
(Sweet 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and finals)
- Other sports:
College World Series
(baseball),
Women's College World Series
(softball),
men's lacrosse championship
,
women's lacrosse championship
,
Frozen Four
(hockey),
Women's Frozen Four
(hockey)
- Soccer
- Premier Boxing Champions
Music and entertainment programming
[
edit
]
Nights with Elaina
News
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Dial Global Posts Disappointing Q3 Financials, Points Finger At Rush Limbaugh For Some Problems
All Access Radio Group, November 16, 2012
- ^
Dial Global files 8K on loan waiver extension
Radio Business Report, January 16, 2013
- ^
"Official: Cumulus Buys Dial Global, Spins Some Stations To Townsquare; Peak Stations Sold To Townsquare, Fresno Spun To Cumulus"
.
All Access
. August 30, 2013
. Retrieved
August 30,
2013
.
- ^
"Cumulus Makes Dial Global And Townsquare Deals Official"
.
RadioInsight
. August 30, 2013
. Retrieved
August 30,
2013
.
- ^
Moses, Lucia (September 4, 2013).
"Dial Global Brings Back WestwoodOne Name"
.
Adweek
. Retrieved
September 13,
2019
.
- ^
"Dial Global becomes WestwoodOne ahead of Cumulus acquisition"
.
Los Angeles Times
. September 4, 2013
. Retrieved
September 13,
2019
.
- ^
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Archived
August 30, 2012, at the
Wayback Machine
.
RadioInfo.com
. Retrieved August 28, 2012.
- ^
TRN companies and Cumulus Media announce amicable Westwood One settlement
.
Press release
(March 7, 2014). Retrieved May 22, 2014.
- ^
"Cumulus Hit With Antitrust Suit Over Advertising Payouts - Law360"
.
www.law360.com
. Retrieved
March 14,
2018
.
- ^
"A 'Significant Number' Of People Laid Off At Westwood One"
.
All Access
. Retrieved
September 13,
2019
.
- ^
"Scripps Acquires Triton Digital"
.
RadioInsight
. October 17, 2018
. Retrieved
September 13,
2019
.
- ^
"Zach Sang Launching Syndicated Nights Show"
.
allaccess.com
. Retrieved
March 14,
2018
.