 | |
| Type | Radio network |
|---|---|
| Country | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| History | |
| Launch date | June 15, 1945 (79 years ago) (1945-06-15) |
| Replaced | Blue Network |
| Closed |
|
| Replaced by | Westwood One |
Former names |
|
| Coverage | |
| Availability | National, through regional affiliates |
Cumulus Media Networks was an Americanradio network owned and operated byCumulus Media. From 2011 until its merger withWestwood One, it controlled many of the radio assets formerly belonging to theAmerican Broadcasting Company (ABC), which was broken up in 2007; Cumulus owned the portion of the network that was purchased byCitadel 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 asCitadel Media Networks since April 2009, after licensing the "ABC Radio Networks" name fromThe Walt Disney Company for nearly two years. ABC now operatesABC 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. TheMutual Broadcasting System and theNBC Radio Network were both dissolved in 1999 after both were sold to theoriginal Westwood One a decade earlier.
Cumulus Media Networks had its origins in an early network set up by WJZ (nowWABC) inNew York City which provided programs to other stations overWestern Union lines.
WJZ radio, originally owned byWestinghouse and its informal network were absorbed into theNational Broadcasting Company in 1927. To the parent companyRadio Corporation of America, WJZ and affiliates were known as theBlue Network while New York stationWEAF 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 aFederal 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.
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RCA put an asking price of $8 million on the Blue network; after two years on the market, it was sold in 1943 to businessmanEdward J. Noble, owner ofLife Savers candy and theRexall store chain, for the asking price. After Noble took over, the network identified itself on-air as "The Blue Network". It was officially renamedAmerican 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 the tape technology developed in World War II. To add to its programming, ABC bought stations KECA (nowKABC) inLos Angeles and WXYZ (nowWXYT) inDetroit, the latter home and originator of many popular serials such asThe Lone Ranger.
Financially unable to match the larger networks NBC and CBS, ABC merged withUnited Paramount Theaters early in 1953.[1] 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'sWLS (which was owned and operated by thePrairie Farmer in a time-share arrangement with ABC-owned WENR until both stations merged in 1954; ABC acquired theFarmer'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 withDon McNeill as the host. Other long-running ABC programs included theNational Barn Dance, running from 1924 to 1960, andPaul Harvey's daily commentary, which ran from 1951 until his death in 2009.[2]
In 1958, ABC collaborated with its sister television network to produce the first nationalstereophonic sound broadcasts, when it simulcastThe Plymouth Show (one oftwo shows hosted byLawrence Welk at the time); the TV side broadcast one audio channel and 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 theassassination of President John F. Kennedy. Kennedy was shot in a motorcade inDallas,Texas, at 18:30UTC 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 the same.
A survivingaircheck from New York shortwave stationWRUL includes the first ABC Radio bulletin. Gardiner interruptsDoris 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 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.[3]
| Network | News aired | Ad/minute $ | Launched | Ended |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| :30 | $1,250 | January 1, 1968[5] | |
| American Information Network | varies | $1,500 | ||
| American Contemporary Network | :50-:60 | $2,500 | ||
| American FM Network | :15-:20 | $650 | ||
| ABC Rock Radio Network | :45 | N/A | January 4, 1982 | |
| ABC Direction Radio Network | ||||
| ABC Talk Radio | 1982 | 1989 | ||
| ESPN Radio | January 1, 1992 | |||
| Radio Disney | November 18, 1996 | April 14, 2021 | ||
| Urban Advantage Network (UAN) | January 1, 2001 |
Ralph Beaudin, group vice president of ABC Radio, came up with the idea of splitting 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.[5] Before the split, ABC obtained a waiver of the FCC's "Chain Broadcasting" rule on December 29, 1967, which had forced 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.[citation needed] However, the FCC insisted that there be no overlap of any ABC network broadcast in a single market, and the network required affiliates to get approval before any delayed broadcast of network programming.[6] The new networks were launched on January 1, 1968.[5]
Two additional networks, ABC Rock Network and ABC Direction Network, were added on January 4, 1982. ABC Rock's anchor affiliate wasWPLJ in New York City, and manyalbum-oriented rock-formatted stations moved from the American FM Network, with 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.[7]
ABC Radio acquiredWatermark Inc., best known as the syndicator ofAmerican Top 40 withCasey Kasem and American Country Countdown withBob Kingsley, in 1982. Kasem left ABC in 1988, reclaiming theAmerican Top 40 name from ABC in 1998, and selling the AT40 brand to AMFM Radio Networks (later absorbed intoPremiere Networks). Kingsley left ABC in 2005, and 'ACC' continues to air as part of the ABC stable, withKix Brooks as host since 2006.Dick Bartley joined the network in 1991 with the AT40 spinoffAmerican Gold and his live Saturday night call-in oldies show, before leaving at the end of March 2009.
ABC launched a foray intotalk radio withABC Talkradio (similar to rival NBC'sTalknet) in 1982. Among its most notable hosts wereMichael Jackson,Owen Spann,Toni Grant andRay 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 andBarry Farber were featured on this secondary network, following a notable three-hour guest appearance by Snyder on Ray Briem's program. However, the rising popularity ofconservative talk radio, fueled byThe 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 the idea of giving Limbaugh a national platform following his initial success onKFBK inSacramento.
After Tom Snyder's retirement in 1992, ABC ostensibly filled his weeknight slot withLeslie 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 the original Talkradio/Weekend network,Bob Brinker'sMoneytalk, remained on the air until 2018.
ABC acquired theSatellite 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 bothESPN Inc. andCapital Cities/ABC, Inc.'s ABC Radio Networks[8] and launched as Sports Radio ESPN on January 1, 1992.[9]Radio Disney was test-launched on November 18, 1996, in four markets by ABC Radio Networks, with a Los Angeles station added on August 26, 1997.[10]
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 wereSam Donaldson ofABC News television,Sean Hannity of WABC,Larry Elder of KABC, andJohn Batchelor of WABC. Donaldson left his show after a short time.Mark Levin was added in 2005 and eventually replaced Elder in 2007, andMark 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 intoPremiere Networks, a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications (nowiHeartMedia).
Hannity has been the most successful, displacingLaura 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 the network, which included twenty-two of ABC Radio's top stations, as well as ABC's talk and music networks, wereBala Cynwyd-basedEntercom Communications andForstmann Little & Company'sCitadel Broadcasting unit. Citadel was chosen as the top bidder and the deal to purchase the stations and the network was struck in February 2006.[11]
The deal did not includeRadio Disney,ESPN Radio (or its Spanish counterpart,ESPN Deportes Radio), any of 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'sABC News unit will also still produceABC News Radio programming for distribution by Citadel.[12] Despite the change in ownership, Citadel Media still listed "ESPN Radio" & "ESPN Deportes" as part of its advertising sales family.[13]
The acquisition of ABC Radio by Citadel Broadcasting was officially completed on June 12, 2007[14] 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".[15]
On April 2, 2009, the staff at Citadel Broadcasting changed 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.[16]
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.[17] 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 was folded into this network service. Cumulus funded the sale by making a pair of station deals withTownsquare Media.[18]
On July 31, 2014, Cumulus acquired the rights toCNN'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 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.[19] 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 asABC Audio as of 2019).[20] ABC Audio renewed its affiliation with most of the Cumulus stations in 2020 when Westwood One made the decision to foldits news division.[21]
The merger of Cumulus Media Networks into Westwood One was completed in mid-2015.[22]
In 1989, ABC Radio Networks acquired theSatellite Music Network which originally started in Chicago. Full-time music formats operated by ABC Radio, Citadel Media and Cumulus Media include the following:
