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| Type | Radio network |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Headquarters |
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| Branding | ABC News |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | |
| History | |
| Launch date | January 1, 1968; 57 years ago (1968-01-01) |
Former names | ABC Radio News New York Jeff Michaels |
| Coverage | |
| Availability | National, through regional affiliates. |
| Links | |
| Website | abcaudio |
ABC News Radio is thenews radio service ofABC Audio, a division ofABC News in the United States. Formerly known asABC Radio News, ABC News Radio feeds, through Skyview Networks, 5-minute newscasts on the hour, and news briefs at half-past the hour, to itsnetwork affiliates. ABC News Radio is the largest commercial radio news organization in the US.
ABC Radio aired the first broadcast report of theassassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Kennedy was shot in Dallas, Texas, at 18:30UTC and Don Gardiner anchored the initial bulletin at 18:36:50 UTC, minutes before any other radio or television network.
Beginning in the late 1950s,ABC fed hourly newscasts to affiliates at 5 minutes before the hour, to contrast it withCBS Radio News andNBC Radio News, which sent its newscasts to affiliates at the top of each hour. On January 1, 1968, the singular ABC radio network was split into 4 separate and distinct programming services. TheAmerican Contemporary Network, on major-market contemporary music stations likeWABC New York, aired news at 5 minutes before the hour.American Information Network news ran at the top of the hour on major-market talk and information stations likeKGO San Francisco. TheAmerican FM Network, carried on major-market FM stations such asWPLJ New York, aired news geared toward young adult listeners at 15 minutes past the hour, while theAmerican Entertainment Network had news at the bottom of the hour, often carried by AM country music stations, such asWBAP in Dallas-Fort Worth.
Before the split, ABC reached an understanding with the FCC concerning the "Chain Broadcasting" rule, which forced the sale of theNBC Blue Network and enabled ABC's creation in 1943. Each of the four networks could be cleared only when no other ABC network was on the air in a particular market. Though each of the 4 new "networks" were distributed to all member radio stations nationally over the same broadcast-quality telephone line, the move allowed ABC to have as many as 4 affiliates in one city – a major competitive advantage and a dramatic turning point in the history of network radio. Two additional news networks,ABC Rock andABC Direction, were added on January 4, 1982, after the network became a satellite-delivered service. The network was strict in its insistence that there be no simultaneous broadcast of more than a single network in a market, except during crisis or special event coverage.
After the sale of most of ABC's radio assets toCitadel Broadcasting in 2007, the ABC Radio Network was operated by the broadcaster as part of theCitadel Media Networks division, and still distributed ABC News content. Citadel Broadcasting was later acquired byCumulus Media. In July 2014, Cumulus announced that it would end its partnership with ABC News, and begin a new partnership withCNN to syndicate news content via the newWestwood One News network for its stations, beginning on January 1, 2015. In turn, ABC announced that it would take the syndication of its radio content in-house under a revivedABC Radio, with distribution handled by Skyview Networks.[1][2]
Despite many of ABC's former heritage radio properties no longer carrying any ABC programming, ABC affiliated with some other heritage radio stations, includingWTOP-FM Washington,WLW Cincinnati,KOA Denver,KOMO Seattle,KTRS St. Louis,KSL Salt Lake City, andKMBZ Kansas City. Before being acquired by Westwood One, ABC News Radio programming was available in podcast form oniHeartRadio due to Cumulus radio stations streaming on iHeart. When Cumulus started using Westwood One/CNN for their national news, ABC News Radio's digital presence was moved exclusively to Slacker (nowLiveOne) until 2020, when it was replaced with news fromAssociated Press.
On July 9, 2020, Westwood One made the decision to fold its news network on August 30, and shortly thereafter, Cumulus reaffiliated most of its news/talk stations with ABC with a handful of others affiliating with other networks. While those ABC's heritage radio stations used Westwood One News as their national news provider, a few Cumulus stations formerly affiliated with ABC (exampleKARN-FM Little Rock) carry CBS.
Of the 6 networks, only Information, Entertainment andABC FM News remain as separate newscast services today, with their programming delivered via satellite. The "Information" network newscasts clear on major-market stations. "Entertainment" network news airs mainly on small and medium-market stations. ABC FM News newscasts air on a small number of FM music stations. These ABC News Radio newscasts originate from the news division's bureaus in New York, Washington and Los Angeles and air exactly at the top of the hour. The standard format is the same for all three, with the Entertainment and FM networks having shorter stories and the Information network having slightly longer stories and more global coverage.
Individual soundbites and reporter packages are fed to stations via satellite and an affiliate website. In addition to the top-of-the-hour newscasts, ABC News also provides its radio affiliates with headlines, briefs and "status reports" that air every 10 minutes, as well as special reports, special event coverage and longform programming.
ABC News Radio producedNews and Comment, a twice-daily long-form program hosted by broadcasterPaul Harvey, who also would read the program's commercial messages in a seamless transition. This program originated from Chicago and began its run in 1951.
On January 1, 1968,News and Comment became a part of ABC's "American Entertainment Network", although the program was also heard on stations affiliated with the other ABC Networks, if the "Entertainment" affiliate was not as powerful as another ABC affiliate in a given market. A 5-minute long spin-off voiced by Harvey,The Rest of the Story, began in May 1976 and was offered to affiliates in the late afternoons, as well as on Saturday mornings.
After Paul Harvey's death on February 28, 2009, San Francisco-based broadcasterGil Gross was appointed as the new host ofNews and Comment, while theRest of the Story time slot was held byDoug Limerick. Shortly after their appointments, however,Mike Huckabee was hired to host his own thrice-daily commentary program,The Huckabee Report, offered to stations that had been carrying both programs in the same time slots. This program, however, was produced by the former ABC Radio Network, at that point rebranded as Citadel Media, eventually becoming Cumulus Media, and finally Westwood One. Huckabee took over distribution of the program himself as a digital-only feature in 2015.
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| Broadcast area | Off-air |
|---|---|
| Branding | ABC News & Talk |
| Programming | |
| Format | Talk radio,News Radio |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | ABC Radio Networks (throughCitadel Broadcasting) |
| History | |
First air date | 2002 |
ABC News And Talk was a news/talk and entertainment radio channel programmed and distributed byABC Radio Networks forsatellite radio services. It aired onXM Satellite Radio channel 124, andSirius Satellite Radio channel 143 both in the United States until September 24, 2007.
The channel also existed onSirius Canada until February 2007. Each morning, the channel featured a six-hour news wheel, produced by ABC News Radio. In the afternoon, hourly newscasts preceded some of ABC Radio's top talk show talent, like Sean Hannity,KABC's Larry Elder andWBAP's Mark Davis.
ABC News And Talk used to host a mid-day talk show exclusively for satellite radio titledLive from 125. The show's host was rotated on a weekly basis so there were several different program personalities. This show was discontinued in 2006.
In September 2006,John Batchelor took a leave of absence from the ABC Radio network.Mark Levin took his place on the ABC News And Talk lineup. Levin's show was broadcast on a 2-hour tape-delay basis, which was assumed to be twofold: to protect Elder's spot in the lineup, since Elder had the slot prior to Levin's arrival, and so Levin can continue to grow his terrestrial affiliate base.
The channel was programmed by ABC Radio until June 12,2007, when it was turned over toCitadel Broadcasting as part of the divestiture by ABC parentDisney of nearly all of its radio assets. The network was shut down September 24, 2007.
The following news-talk radio stations broadcast ABC News Radio[3] (listed by market rank, AM unless noted)
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