Compass Media Networks

Compass Media Networks is an American radio network. The company launched in January 2009. [1] It is owned by former Westwood One CEO and former COO [2] of Connoisseur Media, Peter Kosann. The company focuses on radio and offers representation and marketing services for national radio.[3]

Compass Media Networks
TypePrivate
IndustryRadio broadcasting, advertising
Founded2009
HeadquartersRye, New York
OwnerPeter Kosann
Websitewww.compassmedianetworks.com

History

Compass Media Networks debuted in January 2009 with a focus on national radio programs.

Programming

Acquisition of Westwood One programs

After Westwood One was bought out by Dial Global, Compass picked up several of Westwood One's former weekend music programs. Among those were The Beatle Years with Bob Malik, Out of Order with Jed the Fish, and Off the Record with Uncle Joe Benson. After Westwood One reformatted its longtime Saturday-night program Country Gold with a new host (first with Randy Owen, now with Terri Clark), Compass hired the show's previous host, Josh "Rowdy Yates" Holstead, to host a continuation of the previous format under the name The Original Country Gold. Compass also owns the rights to The Deep End with Nick Michaels, which was not previously a Westwood One program.

After Dial Global merged with Cumulus Media Networks, Compass picked up additional programs, including the M. G. Kelly syndicated program library (except American Hit List) and the Rick Dees Weekly Top 40. Big D and Bubba, previously distributed by Premiere Networks, also was added to the Compass lineup; Compass now offers other country dayparts as well, including a midday show hosted by Carsen and Taste of Country Nights evenings.

Acquisition of Wall Street Journal This Morning

In November 2014, Compass announced the acquisition of The Wall Street Journal This Morning, a morning drive time national news and business program, which had been syndicated by the Wall Street Journal Radio division. The program was renamed This Morning, America's First News with Gordon Deal. Deal has been the program's host since 2005. He was retained and the program is now centered on general news, not just business and financial news.[5] The first broadcast under the new title was January 2, 2015.

National Football League coverage

Compass, in conjunction with Dial Global, began offering a slate of Sunday afternoon games from the National Football League beginning in the 2009 NFL season. These broadcasts competed with the NFL on Westwood One and the Sports USA Radio Network. Compass's broadcast pairings feature Chris Carrino with Brian Baldinger and Matt "Money" Smith with Dale Hellestrae. Jon Rothstein serve as studio hosts. Other play-by-play announcers include Gregg Daniels and Drew Bontadelli.

Compass currently carries two NFL team broadcasts, the Dallas Cowboys and Las 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 the Atlanta Falcons, Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Washington Redskins. The Detroit Lions and Arizona Cardinals were added to the agreement in 2010. An additional four teams added their names to Compass's NFL coverage for the 2011 season- the Chicago Bears, Denver Broncos, San Francisco 49ers, and Seattle Seahawks. By virtue of the teams involved in the two international games, Compass Media Networks held exclusive national broadcast rights to both the NFL International Series and Bills Toronto Series games in 2011. When all was said and done, Compass Media expanded their coverage to 60 games a season with the new contracts.[6]

Compass, by default, carries all Raiders and Cowboys games as the national broadcast in the Sunday doubleheader. In weeks where neither the Raiders nor the Cowboys play in one of the Sunday afternoon time slots, Compass will pick another game to air nationally. The Sunday doubleheader games are offered to stations a la carte. Compass also offers the Raiders' and Cowboys' prime time games as well, but only to full-time (defined as carrying 12 or more games from each respective team) affiliates, to avoid conflict with the national contract Westwood One has with the league; the Cowboys' Thanksgiving contest is also subject to this restriction.

NCAA football and basketball coverage

Dial Global and Compass announced they would offer a slate of NCAA football games beginning in the 2009 season, competing with ESPN Radio, Sports USA Radio Network, Dial Global, Nevada Sports Network, and Touchdown Radio productions. No specific conference affiliation was announced, and the schedule featured games with teams from the Pac-12 Conference, Western Athletic Conference, Big Ten Conference, Big East Conference, Big 12 Conference, Conference USA, and the Southeastern Conference. In December 2009, Compass Media announced they had gained the national radio broadcasting rights for the Texas Bowl. The Texas Bowl rights lasted only one season as ESPN 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. While Compass can't gain rights to any NCAA Tournament games, 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.[7]

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 .[8]

Major League baseball coverage
See also: Major League Baseball on Compass Media Networks

In April 2012, Compass announced an agreement with Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to air 25 games out-of-market throughout the team's 2012 season.[9] Chris Carrino and Steve Quis were named as play-by-play announcers for the broadcasts, with Steve Phillips and Darryl Hamilton to serve as analysts.[10] For the 2013 season, Compass acquired rights to select Tampa Bay Rays home games to increase their MLB coverage. Compass has not syndicated MLB games since the 2013 season

References
  1. "FREE BEER & HOT WINGS Partners With Compass Media Networks". Reuters. 2009-03-05.
  2. "Blog Archive » Peter Kosann steps down as Chief Operating Officer of Connoisseur Media in order to focus full-time on Compass Media Networks". Connoisseur Media. 2009-03-24. Archived from the original on 2012-02-24. Retrieved 2012-10-03.
  3. Archived March 13, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  4. "Taste of Country Nights with Sam Alex" (PDF). compassmedianetworks.com. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  5. All Access. "Compass Media Networks To Continue Gordon Deal's Morning Show After Wall St. Journal Pulls Out". All Access Music Group. Retrieved 2015-01-02.
  6. Nox Solutions. "Sports Programming". Compass Media Networks. Archived from the original on 2012-10-30. Retrieved 2012-10-03.
  7. Nox Solutions. "Sports Programming". Compass Media Networks. Archived from the original on 2012-10-30. Retrieved 2012-10-03.
  8. Nox Solutions. "Compass Media Networks". Compass Media Networks. Archived from the original on 2012-03-06. Retrieved 2012-10-03.
  9. Marcucci, Carl (2012-04-25). "Compass Media Networks signs LA Angels". RBR.com.
  10. "Carrino, Quis to call Angels baseball". staatalent.com. 2012-05-15. Archived from the original on 2014-07-14.
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