Westwood One was an American radio network that was based in New York City. At one time, it was managed by CBS Radio, and was later purchased by the private equity firm, The Gores Group. Due to purchases, mergers and other forms of consolidation in the 1980s and 1990s, at one time or another, it had ownership stakes in or syndication rights to some of the most famous brands in network radio, including CBS, NBC, Mutual, CNN, Fox, and Unistar. The company was one of the largest producers and distributors of radio programming in the United States. It broadcast entertainment, news, weather, sports, talk, and traffic programming to about 7,700 radio stations across the United States. The company was the top provider of local traffic reports in the U.S. through its subsidiaries, Metro Networks, Shadow Broadcast Services, SmartRoute Systems, and Sigalert.com. Westwood One also offers weather services; originally using Accuweather, Westwood switched to The Weather Channel in 2009.
Bill Drake, born Philip Yarbrough, was an American radio programmer who co-developed the Boss Radio format with Gene Chenault via their company Drake-Chenault.
Premiere Networks, Inc. is an American media company, a subsidiary of iHeartMedia, for which it currently serves as its main original radio content distribution and production arm. It is the largest syndication company in the United States. Founded independently in 1987, it is headed by Julie Talbott, who serves as president.
Jim Long was an American entrepreneur, whose pioneering marketing concepts and creative “firsts” are iconic in the broadcast music industry.
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.
Transtar was the first radio network to provide 24-hour music programming to local affiliates. The slate of 24-hour networks is now owned by Westwood One and operated by Dial Global. The studios are located in Valencia, California.
JAM Creative Productions, Inc., is an American company that produces radio jingles, promo music for television, and commercial jingles for advertisers. It has made more radio jingles than any other jingle company and has become part of American pop culture.
KSTN (1420 kHz is a commercial AM radio station in Stockton, California, owned by Robert LaRue, and licensed by KSTN, LLC. It airs a country music radio format, known as "105.9 The Bull."
Drake-Chenault Enterprises was a radio syndication company that specialized in automation on FM radio stations. The company was founded in the late-1960s by radio programmer and deejay Bill Drake (1937–2008), and his business partner, Lester Eugene Chenault (1919–2010). Drake-Chenault was the predecessor of Jones Radio Networks with its syndicated satellite-delivered formats.
Westwood One, Inc. is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming.
WCRZ-FM is a commercial FM radio station in Flint, Michigan, broadcasting an adult contemporary format and switching to Christmas music for much of November and December. WCRZ is the top-rated heritage station in the market. Its studios and offices are on East Bristol Road in Burton, east of Flint.
WMQU is a radio station which previously broadcast a sports format until March 2016 when it became an affiliate of Baraga Radio, a regional Catholic radio network based in Traverse City, Michigan. As of now it is currently affiliated with Catholic radio network Relevant Radio. Licensed to Grayling, Michigan, the station is owned and operated by Sheryl & Gerald Coyne, through licensee Blarney Stone Broadcasting, Inc. Blarney Stone also owns WGRY-FM and WQON, co-located at WMQU's broadcast facilities in Grayling.
Red Eye Radio is a talk radio program currently hosted by Eric Harley and Gary McNamara. The program is syndicated nationwide by Westwood One, and originates from WBAP in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. The show traces its history through several predecessors, beginning with Bill Mack's overnight truck show in 1969.
The History of Rock & Roll is an American radio documentary on rock and roll music, first syndicated in 1969. Originally one of the lengthiest documentaries of any medium, The History of Rock & Roll is a definitive history of the Rock and Roll genre, stretching from the early 1950s to the present day. The "rockumentary," as producers Bill Drake and Gene Chenault called it, features hundreds of interviews and comments from numerous rock artists and people involved with rock and roll.
WWRM is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Tampa, Florida, and serving the Tampa Bay area. It has a hot adult contemporary format and is owned by Cox Media Group. The studios and offices are located on 4th Street North in St. Petersburg. It calls itself Magic 94.9.
Several events occurred in radio in 2008.
WFHR is a radio station broadcasting and local and statewide based progressive talk format. Licensed to Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, United States, the station serves the Wausau-Stevens Point area. WFHR features programming from the statewide Civic Media Network.
Classic Hits is a 24-hour music format produced by Westwood One. Its playlist is composed of oldies music from the mid-1960s to mid-1980s, from artists such as Billy Joel, The Beatles, The Temptations, Fleetwood Mac, Hall and Oates and dozens more artists mainly targeted at listeners 45–54. It was known as The Oldies Channel until they changed their name to "Kool Gold" to avoid confusion with the ABC Radio/Citadel Media "The True Oldies Channel". It was branded as Kool Gold Timeless Classics as part of Dial Global's revamped satellite format group, but has then reverted to its original Kool Gold ident to avoid confusion with Citadel's former Timeless format, which once used the "Timeless Classics" positioner.
Thomas Wayne Merriman was an American music composer based in Dallas, Texas, who in 1955 created the first production company specializing in radio station advertising campaigns and jingles. Merriman led the Liberty Network Band, and arranged and/or produced music for Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway.
Pepper Sound Studios was an early syndicator of radio station jingles and began sometime in 1957. It began as a record company created by businessman John Pepper and songwriter Floyd Huddleston. Huddleston based the company on the model of Capitol Records and even brought in Johnny Mercer as a consultant. Composers Al Rinker and Willard Robison were hired, until the record end was eventually phased out, and by 1964, Pepper Studios exclusively become a Jingle Commercial company. Their first jingle was for John Pepper's company Everdry Deodorant, followed by Burke Hall Paint and hundreds of others. William Tanner was a salesman for the company and quickly worked his way into becoming one of the owners of the company, and Pepper and Tanner worked Floyd Huddleston out. The company became known as Pepper-Tanner about 1967. In 1972, Bill Tanner worked John Pepper out the same way he had Huddleston, and the name was changed once again to The William B. Tanner Company, or simply Tanner for short.
