ABC Audio is a
radio syndicator, radio network and digital audio network in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. It is under the ownership of
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
, parent company of
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Cali ...
(ABC), with satellite distribution being handled by Skyview Networks. It launched on January 1, 2015, as ABC Radio; it was renamed ABC Audio in 2019.
Background
ABC Radio originally began after the split of
NBC Red
The NBC, National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (known as the NBC Red Network prior to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in operation from 1926 through 2004. Along with the Blue Network, NBC Blue Network it was ...
and NBC Blue (later
Blue Network
The Blue Network (previously known as the NBC Blue Network) was the on-air name of a now defunct American Commercial broadcasting, radio network, which broadcast from 1927 through 1945.
Beginning as one of the two radio networks owned by the N ...
) networks with ABC taking over operations of the latter from
RCA
The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...
in 1943 before adopting its name 2 years later. ABC Radio was known to broadcast the first nationwide report of the
assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Kennedy was shot in a motorcade in
Dallas, Texas
Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...
, at 18:30
UTC 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 followed suit.
The networks associated with ABC included
Watermark Inc. (which ABC bought in 1982),
Satellite Music Network
Satellite Music Network was the first satellite delivered network to provide complete live 24-hour-a-day music programming to local stations, under several different formats.
History
Affiliate stations, mostly in small and medium markets, co ...
(a 1989 purchase),
ESPN Radio (launched in 1992) and
Radio Disney (debuted in 1996).
Despite a number of different owners (
Capital Cities Communications
Capital Cities/ABC Inc. was an American media company. It was founded in 1985 when Capital Cities Communications purchased the much larger American Broadcasting Company. It eventually proposed a merger of equals with The Walt Disney Company and ...
and later Disney), the radio division remained under ABC's wing until June 12, 2007, when it was sold to
Citadel Broadcasting
Citadel Broadcasting Corporation was a Las Vegas, Nevada-based broadcast holding company. Citadel owned 243 radio stations across the United States and was the third-largest radio station owner in the country. Only iHeartMedia and Cumulus Media ...
as well as most of its
O&O stations in a restructuring effort. Under the terms of the
reverse Morris trust
A Reverse Morris Trust in United States law is a transaction that combines a divisive reorganization (spin-off) with an acquisitive reorganization ( statutory merger) to allow a tax-free transfer (in the guise of a merger) of a subsidiary. It may b ...
, ABC shareholders held a controlling stake in Citadel, who licensed the ABC name for two more years until it rebranded as ''Citadel Media Networks'' in 2009.
On September 16, 2011,
Cumulus Media
Cumulus Media, Inc. is an American broadcasting company and is the third largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States behind Audacy and iHeartMedia. As of June 2019, Cumulus lists ownership of 428 stations in 8 ...
purchased Citadel Broadcasting and rebranded the network division as Cumulus Media Networks. In 2013, Cumulus Media Networks merged with Dial Global Radio Networks to form the current
Westwood One
Westwood One 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 1978. The compan ...
.
ABC maintained ownership of its Radio Disney network and its ESPN Radio owned-and-operated stations. In 2015, it announced plans to sell off all but one of its Radio Disney station licenses and stop distributing that network through terrestrial radio. The network succeeded in selling off most of its stations, leaving only
KRDC
The KDE Software Compilation (KDE SC) was an umbrella term for the desktop environment plus a range of included applications produced by KDE. From its 1.0 release in July 1998 until the release of version 4.4 in February 2010, the Software Com ...
; KRDC flipped to a country music format separate from the Radio Disney network but still carrying the Radio Disney brand. Its license, along with ESPN Radio's
KSPN, have remained held by "ABC Radio Los Angeles Assets."
History
ABC Radio
![ABC Radio 2014](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/ABC_Radio_2014.png)
On August 7, 2014, ABC announced that it would relaunch its radio network division on January 1, 2015. The change occurred following the announcement that Cumulus would replace its ABC News radio service with
Westwood One News
Westwood One News was a radio news network launched on January 1, 2015, and operated by Westwood One through its parent company Cumulus Media. Using audio from CNN reports and correspondents, and anchored by Cumulus employees, it provided radio ...
(via
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
). ABC will continue to make its radio news programming (via
ABC News Radio
ABC News Radio is the news radio service of ABC Audio, a division of ABC News in the United States. Formerly known as ABC Radio News, ABC News Radio feeds, through Skyview Networks, five minute newscasts on the hour and news briefs at half-pas ...
and its FM counterpart
ABC News Now
ABC News Live (a.k.a. ABCNL) is an American streaming video news channel for breaking news, live events, newscasts, and longer-form reports and documentaries operated by ABC News since 2018. The channel is available through various streaming de ...
) available through the network, and will also expand to create new radio programming based on other ABC owned properties such as ''
Good Morning America
''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...
'', ''
Dancing With The Stars'' and ''
Jimmy Kimmel Live
''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, broadcast on ABC. The nightly hour-long show debuted on January 26, 2003, at Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywood, California, as part of ABC's lea ...
''. Skyview Networks would handle advertising sales and satellite distribution.
By December 23, 2014, ABC News had signed up over 1,000 affiliated stations for at least one of ABC News, ABC Digital and ABC Air Power networks. This included 200 new affiliates and multiple stations affiliating with more than one service. Major new key affiliates added included
WTOP-FM
WTOP-FM (103.5 FM) – branded ''WTOP Radio'' and ''WTOP News'' – is a commercial all-news radio station licensed to serve Washington, D.C. Owned by Hubbard Broadcasting, the station serves the Washington metropolitan area, extending its ...
,
WGN and
KFI
KFI (640 AM broadcasting, AM) is a radio station in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, owned and operated by iHeartMedia, Inc. It began operations in 1922 and became one of the first high-powered, clear-channel station, clear-channel List of ...
.
In April 2018, ABC announced that it planned to develop new syndicated radio programs with Skyview. The pair made a deal in August 2018 to syndicate “The Dana Cortez Show” morning show formerly on “98.5 The Beat”
KBBT
KBBT (98.5 FM, "98.5 The Beat") is a rhythmic contemporary radio station serving the San Antonio, Texas area, but is licensed to Schertz. This station is owned by Uforia Audio Network under licensee Univision Radio Illinois, Inc. The station's ...
San Antonio.
Around 2015, ABC News began experimenting with podcasts and added an audio channel to its app. On March 28, 2018, the company began its first daily podcast, ''Start Here''.
Paula Faris launched a podcast on November 13, 2018 with three episodes of ''Journeys of Faith''.
Local Radio Networks moved its twelve 24/7 music formats on January 1, 2019 to ABC Radio for marketing and talent sharing and Skyview Networks for satellite distribution. ABC News Radio programming was previously offered to Local Radio affiliates.
Vice president and general manager Steve Jones left April 4, 2019 to work at Skyview. For the interim, four ABC News executive would head up ABC Radio: ABC News executive director, programming/news coverage Andrew Kalb, ABC News senior manager, business development Abe Velez, ABC Radio director of affiliate relations Heidi Oringer and ABC News Radio executive director of operations Jeff Fitzgerald. He was replace in May 2019 by Stacia Philips Deshishku promoted from the position of Washington Deputy Bureau Chief.
ABC Audio
On September 20, 2019, ABC Radio was renamed as ABC Audio as the network has evolved to offer a
podcast
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...
portfolio and other forms of on-demand and linear content. Vice president Deshishku, who made the announcement acknowledges that "the power of radio remains critical to our business, as does the ABC News Radio brand within ABC Audio." In March 2020, ABC Audio indicated that ESPN Audio would take over podcast ad sales.
Programs and services
*
ABC News Radio
ABC News Radio is the news radio service of ABC Audio, a division of ABC News in the United States. Formerly known as ABC Radio News, ABC News Radio feeds, through Skyview Networks, five minute newscasts on the hour and news briefs at half-pas ...
**
ABC News Now
ABC News Live (a.k.a. ABCNL) is an American streaming video news channel for breaking news, live events, newscasts, and longer-form reports and documentaries operated by ABC News since 2018. The channel is available through various streaming de ...
*ABC Air Power
*''The Deja Vu Show''
*ABC Digital
*ABC Sports Radio
*''Perspective''
*''
This Week''
*''World News This Week''
*''Your Body with Dr. Jen Ashton
Podcasts
* ''
10% Happier with Dan Harris''
(March 11, 2016–present)
* ''20/20'' (November 4, 2017–present)
* ''COVID-19 Immunity in Our Community'' (March 31, 2021-present)
* ''Cutthroat, Inc.'' (March 26, 2020-May 7, 2020). 7 episodes.
* ''The Dropout'' (January 22, 2019-February 26, 2019)
* ''Everybody's Got Something'' (September 19, 2016–present)
* ''The Essentials: Inside the Curve'' (April, 20, 2020-June 13, 2020). 10 episodes.
* ''Have You Seen This Man?'' (October 23, 2019-November 19, 2020). 7 episodes.
* ''The HeirPod'' (October 3, 2019—present) ABC News Royal Contributor Omid Scobie hosts
* ''In Plain Sight: Lady Bird Johnson'' (March 1, 2021-April 12, 2021). 8 episodes.
* ''Inside Frozen 2'' (November 11, 2019-December 9, 2020). 7 episodes.
* ''Inside the Oscars'' (March 25, 2021-April 26, 2021). 6 episodes.
* ''The Investigation'' (February 11, 2019-February 7, 2020)
* ''Journeys of Faith'' (November 13, 2018-April 21, 2020) ten episodes with 3 premiere episodes
* ''A Killing on The Cape'' (October 25, 2017–November 29, 2017). 6 episodes.
* ''Life After Suicide'' (May 1, 2019-June 18, 2019)
* ''Motivated'' (June 26, 2017–December 31, 2017)
* ''A Murder on Orchard Street'' (October 3, 2017–November 30, 2017). 8 episodes.
* ''Nightline'' (November 30, 2017–present)
* ''
No Limits with Rebecca Jarvis'' (January 9, 2017–December 29, 2019). 145 episodes.
* ''Perspective'' (November 9, 2017–present)
* ''
Popcorn with Peter Travers'' (August 26, 2016–present)
* ''Powerhouse Politics'' (February 19, 2016–present)
* ''
This Week with George Stephanopoulos'' (November 12, 2017–present)
* ''Truth and Lies: Jeffrey Epstein'' (January 9, 2020-July 10, 2020). 10 episodes.
* ''Tulsa's Buried Truch'' (April 6, 2021-April 20, 2021). 3 episodes.
* ''Uncomfortable'' (March 21, 2017–March 12, 2018)
* ''The View''
* ''World News This Week'' (November 3, 2017–present)
* ''
World News Tonight with David Muir
''ABC World News Tonight'' (titled ''ABC World News Tonight with David Muir'' for its weeknight broadcasts since September 2014) is the flagship daily evening television news program of ABC News, the news division of the American Broadcasting ...
'' (December 1, 2017–present)
* ''Start Here'' (March 28, 2018 – present) a twenty-minute audio cast hosted by Brad Mielke
References
External links
*
ABC Radio - Skyview Networks
{{Disney
American radio networks
*
Radio stations established in 2015
Podcasting companies