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| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Radio broadcasting,advertising |
| Founded | 2009; 16 years ago (2009) |
| Headquarters | Rye, New York, United States |
| Owner | Peter Kosann |
| Website | www |
Compass Media Networks is an Americanradionetwork. The company launched in January 2009.[1] It is owned by formerWestwood One CEO and former COO[2] ofConnoisseur Media, Peter Kosann. The company focuses on radio and offers representation and marketing services for national radio.[3]
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Founded in 2009, Compass Media Networks is a radio broadcasting company that provides programming, representation, and marketing services for national radio.
AfterWestwood One was bought out byDial Global, Compass picked up several of Westwood One's former weekend music programs. Among those wereThe Beatle Years with Bob Malik,Out of Order with Jed the Fish, andOff the Record with Uncle Joe Benson. After Westwood One reformatted its longtime Saturday-night programCountry Gold with a new host (first withRandy Owen, now withTerri Clark), Compass hired the show's previous host, Josh "Rowdy Yates" Holstead, to host a continuation of the previous format under the nameThe Original Country Gold. Compass also owns the rights toThe Deep End with Nick Michaels, which was not previously a Westwood One program.
After Dial Global merged withCumulus Media Networks, Compass picked up additional programs, including theM. G. Kelly syndicated program library (exceptAmerican Hit List) and theRick DeesWeekly Top 40.Big D and Bubba, previously distributed byPremiere Networks, also was added to the Compass lineup; Compass now offers other country dayparts as well, including a midday show hosted by Carsen andTaste of Country Nights evenings.
In November 2014, Compass announced the acquisition ofThe Wall Street Journal This Morning, a morningdrive time national news and business program, which had been syndicated by theWall Street Journal Radio division. The program was renamedThis Morning, America's First News with Gordon Deal. The first broadcast under the new title was January 2, 2015.
Compass, in conjunction withDial Global, began broadcasting a slate of Sunday afternoon games from theNational Football League beginning in the2009 NFL season. These broadcasts competed with the NFL onWestwood One and theSports USA Radio Network.Brent Musburger is the voice of theLas Vegas Raiders along with analystLincoln Kennedy and studio hostTim Cates. Announcers for theDallas Cowboys broadcast includeDanny White, Kevin Ray with in-studio hostJerry Recco. Compass Media Networks NFL broadcast pairings includeChris Carrino withBrian Baldinger. Jon Rothstein serves as studio host. Other play-by-play announcers and analysts include Gregg Daniels. TJ Rives, Tiki Barber, Steve Beurelein, Bill Rosinski, Chad Brown, and Drew Bontadelli.
Compass currently features exclusive broadcast rights for two NFL team broadcasts, theDallas Cowboys andLas Vegas Raiders. The Raiders signed on to Compass in 2009 and the Cowboys joined fully in 2011. 2009 NFL games were broadcast by individual agreement with eight teams, which featured in all of Compass's games: aside from the Cowboys and Raiders, Compass carried theAtlanta Falcons,Buffalo Bills,Kansas City Chiefs,Philadelphia Eagles,Tampa Bay Buccaneers, andWashington Redskins. TheDetroit Lions andArizona Cardinals were added to the agreement in 2010. An additional four teams added their names to Compass's NFL coverage for the 2011 season- theChicago Bears,Denver Broncos,San Francisco 49ers, andSeattle Seahawks. By virtue of the teams involved in the two international games, Compass Media Networks held exclusive national broadcast rights to both theNFL International Series andBills Toronto Series games in 2011. Compass Media expanded their coverage to 60 games a season with the new contracts.[9]
Dial Global and Compass announced they would offer a slate of NCAA football games beginning in the 2009 season, competing withESPN Radio, Sports USA Radio Network, Dial Global, Nevada Sports Network, andTouchdown Radio productions. No specific conference affiliation was announced, and the schedule featured games with teams from thePac-12 Conference,Western Athletic Conference,Big Ten Conference,Big East Conference,Big 12 Conference,Conference USA, and theSoutheastern Conference. In December 2009, Compass Media announced they had gained the national radio broadcasting rights for theTexas Bowl. The Texas Bowl rights lasted only one season asESPN Radio took over the rights in 2010. By 2012, Compass Media was only broadcasting games from the Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC conferences.
In July 2009, Compass Media announced they would expand their sports coverage to include NCAA basketball, competing with Westwood One. Compass is unable to gain rights to any NCAA Tournament games, however they announced that they signed a contract with the Big Ten Conference to be the exclusive radio provider of the first and second rounds of the Big Ten Tournament in 2010 and all tournament games beginning in 2011.[10]
In 2011, Compass Media Sports increased their coverage of the Big Ten conference by inking a multi-year deal to broadcast the Big Ten Championship game, meaning the Big Ten Basketball Tournament and Big Ten Championship game will be on the same radio affiliates nationwide and at the network's website.[11][12]
In April 2012, Compass announced an agreement withMajor League Baseball'sLos Angeles Angels of Anaheim to air 25 games out-of-market throughout the team's 2012 season.[13]Chris Carrino andSteve Quis were named as play-by-play announcers for the broadcasts, withSteve Phillips andDarryl Hamilton to serve as analysts.[14] For the 2013 season, Compass acquired rights to selectTampa Bay Rays home games to increase their MLB coverage. Compass has not syndicated MLB games since the 2013 season.
