Compass Media Networks is an American

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

. The company launched in January 2009. It is owned by former

Westwood One Westwood One, Inc. 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 1976. The co ...

CEO and former COO of

Connoisseur Media Connoisseur Media LLC is an American media company. It is based in Westport, Connecticut and led by Jeff Warshaw. As of May 2024, Connoisseur operates 13 radio stations and digital assets in four U.S. markets: Frederick, MD, Nassau-Suffolk, NY, Ne ...

, Peter Kosann. The company focuses on radio and offers representation and marketing services for national radio.

History

Founded in 2009, Compass Media Networks is a radio broadcasting company that provides programming, representation, and marketing services for national radio.

Programming

*''

The Free Beer and Hot Wings Show ''The Free Beer and Hot Wings Show'' is a syndicated morning talk radio show broadcast primarily from the Townsquare Media radio station WGRD-FM in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The show is hosted by Gregg "Free Beer" Daniels, Chris "Hot Wings" Miche ...

'' morning

drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...

comedy and

hot talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, Interview (jo ...

program hosted by Gregg "Free Beer" Daniels and Chris "Hot Wings" Michael, along with producers, Steve and Kelly. It is mostly heard on

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

and

active rock Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock stations play a balance of new hard rock songs with valued classic rock favorites, normally with an emphasis on the harder edge o ...

stations. *''DeDe In The Morning'', DeDe McGuire, syndicated morning urban radio program originating from

KKDA-FM KKDA-FM (104.5 MHz), known on air as K104, is a radio station in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex broadcasting an urban contemporary format. It is owned by Service Broadcasting Corporation alongside KRNB. Its studios are located in Arlington, ...

in Dallas, Texas and owned by Service Broadcasting. *''

The Lars Larson Show Lars Kristopher Larson (born March 6, 1959)"Lars Kristopher Larson". ''Who's Who in the West'', 26th ed. Accessed June 17, 2013 via LexisNexis. is an American conservative talk radio show host based in Portland, Oregon. Larson worked in televis ...

''.

Lars Larson Lars Kristopher Larson (born March 6, 1959)"Lars Kristopher Larson". ''Who's Who in the West'', 26th ed. Accessed June 17, 2013 via LexisNexis. is an American conservative talk radio show host based in Portland, Oregon. Larson worked in televis ...

is a conservative political talk show host based at

KXL-FM KXL-FM (101.1 MHz) is a commercial radio station in Portland, Oregon. It is owned by Alpha Media and broadcasts a news/talk radio format. The studios are on SW 5th Avenue in downtown Portland. KXL-FM is the flagship station for the nationally ...

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. The show is heard on dozens of affiliates. *''The Market Score Board Report with

Ron Insana Ronald G. Insana (born March 31, 1961) is an American finance reporter, author and former hedge fund manager. He presents the ''Market Score Board Report with Ron Insana'' radio show, syndicated by Compass Media Networks, Compass, and is a senior ...

'' debuted nationally on May 11, 2009, and offers daily business reports Monday-Friday at the open and close of the stock market. *''Taste of Country Nights'' hosted by Amber Atnip and Evan Paul, a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

radio show syndicated throughout

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and distributed by Compass Media Networks. *''

This Morning, America's First News with Gordon Deal ''This Morning: America's First News'' (formerly ''The Wall Street Journal This Morning'') is a two-hour radio news/talk program hosted by Gordon Deal and Jennifer Kushinka, who replaced long-serving co-host Gina Cervetti on January 2, 2015. I ...

'' with cohost Jennifer Kushinka and producer Michael Gavin, a four-hour morning news and information program for news-talk radio stations. It airs at 5 a.m. ET weekdays. A recorded one-hour roundup show is heard on Saturday or Sunday mornings on many of the weekday show's affiliates. A podcast version of the show is produced Monday through Saturday. *''Markley, Van Camp and Robbins'' — Originally co-hosted by Jamie Markley and David van Camp, the show went into national syndication in 2019 from WMBD in

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is a city in Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. Located on the Illinois River, the city had a population of 113,150 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Ill ...

. Scott Robbins was later added to the show, with the name of the program being expanded to include him. Airing live between Noon and 3 p.m. ET weekdays, the show would take the place of

Rush Limbaugh Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative political commentator who was the host of ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nati ...

on many

Alpha Media Alpha Media LLC is a radio broadcasting company based in Portland, Oregon, and led by Bob Proffitt. The group does business under the Alpha Media name. It was formed from the merger of Alpha Broadcasting, L&L Broadcasting, and Main Line Broadc ...

stations following his death in 2021. Many other stations also chose to air the show on tape delay.

Acquisition of Westwood One programs

After

was bought out by

Dial Global Westwood One, Inc. 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 1976. The c ...

, 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 Randy Yeuell Owen (born December 13, 1949) is an American country musician. He is best known for his role as the lead singer of Alabama, a country rock band that saw commercial success throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Alabama became the most su ...

, now with

Terri Clark Terri Lynn Sauson, known professionally as Terri Clark (born August 5, 1968) is a Canadian country music singer who has had success in both Canada and the United States. Signed to Mercury Records in 1995, she released her self-titled debut that ...

), 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 ''The Deep End with Nick Michaels'' is an American syndicated radio program created and hosted by Nick Michaels. It features a mix of music and stories about the music, representing a wide range of artists and music genres. The show is produced ...

'', which was not previously a Westwood One program. After Dial Global merged with

Cumulus Media Networks Cumulus Media Networks was an American radio network owned and operated by Cumulus Media. From 2011 until its merger with Westwood One, it controlled many of the radio assets formerly belonging to the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), whi ...

, Compass picked up additional programs, including the

M. G. Kelly Gary D. Sinclair (born 1952), known professionally as Michael Gary "M.G." Kelly and Machine Gun Kelly, is an American actor, disc jockey, and radio personality. In addition to hosting several radio programs over the years, Kelly has held severa ...

syndicated program library (except ''American Hit List'') and the ''

Rick Dees Rigdon Osmond Dees III (born March 14, 1950), best known as Rick Dees, is an American entertainer, radio personality, comedian, actor, and voice artist, best known for his internationally syndicated radio show '' The Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 Coun ...

Weekly Top 40 ''Rick Dees Weekly Top 40'' (sometimes known as ''The Weekly Top 40'') is an internationally syndicated radio program created and hosted by American radio personality Rick Dees. It is currently heard on over 200 radio stations worldwide. It is ...

''.

Big D and Bubba The Big D and Bubba Show is a nationally syndicated radio show airing six days a week on approximately 120 country music FM radio stations. The show is syndicated by Compass Media Networks. Live shows are broadcast from 6 to 10 AM (Eastern Ti ...

, previously distributed by

Premiere Networks Premiere Networks, Inc. (formerly Premiere Radio Networks, shortened as PRN) is an American media company, a subsidiary of iHeartMedia, for which it currently serves as its main original radio content distribution and production arm. It is th ...

, 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 Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wit ...

Nights'' evenings.

Acquisition of ''
Wall Street Journal This Morning ''This Morning: America's First News'' (formerly ''The Wall Street Journal This Morning'') is a two-hour radio news/talk program hosted by Gordon Deal and Jennifer Kushinka, who replaced long-serving co-host Gina Cervetti on January 2, 2015. I ...
''

In November 2014, Compass announced the acquisition of ''The Wall Street Journal This Morning'', a morning

national news and business program, which had been syndicated by the

Wall Street Journal Radio The ''Wall Street Journal'' Radio Network was the radio arm of ''The Wall Street Journal'', owned by Dow Jones. The radio news service served over 400 radio stations across North America and provided various programming. On November 12, 2014, Dow ...

division. The program was renamed ''

''. The first broadcast under the new title was January 2, 2015.

Sports

National Football League coverage

Compass, in conjunction with

, began broadcasting a slate of Sunday afternoon games from the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

beginning in the

2009 NFL season The 2009 NFL season was the 90th season in the history of the National Football League (NFL). The 50th anniversary of the original eight charter members of the American Football League was celebrated during this season. The preseason started ...

. These broadcasts competed with the NFL on

and the

Sports USA Radio Network Sports USA Media is the largest independent sports broadcasting radio network in the United States, specializing in live broadcasts of American football, specifically of the NCAA football Division I-A and National Football League (NFL). In 2018, ...

Brent Musburger Brent Woody Musburger (born May 26, 1939) is an American sportscaster, currently the lead broadcaster and managing editor at Vegas Stats and Information Network (VSiN). With CBS Sports from 1973 until 1990, he was the original host of their ...

is the voice of the

Las Vegas Raiders The Las Vegas Raiders are a professional American football team based in the Las Vegas Valley, Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Raiders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West ...

along with analyst

Lincoln Kennedy Tamerlane Lincoln Kennedy (born Tamerlane Fizel Kennedy Jr., February 12, 1971) is an American former professional football player who was an offensive tackle who played in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the ...

and studio host

Tim Cates The Las Vegas Raiders Radio Network is an American radio network composed of 52 radio stations which carry English-language coverage of the Las Vegas Raiders, a professional football team in the National Football League (NFL). Las Vegas market s ...

. Announcers for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

broadcast include

Danny White Wilford Daniel White (born February 9, 1952) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback and punter for 13 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He was the third major franchise qu ...

, Kevin Ray with in-studio host

Jerry Recco Jerry Recco (born March 19, 1974) is an American sports radio personality, serving as a morning anchor on '' Boomer and Gio'' program on sports radio station WFAN in New York City. He has been with the station since 1997. As of 2009, Recco also re ...

. Compass Media Networks NFL broadcast pairings include

Chris Carrino Chris Carrino is an American sports play-by-play announcer who works for Compass Media Networks, Westwood One, and WFAN. He is one of Compass' main voices of National Football League radio contests and is the radio voice of the Brooklyn Nets of ...

with

Brian Baldinger Brian David Baldinger (born January 7, 1959) is an American former professional football guard in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys, Indianapolis Colts, and Philadelphia Eagles. He currently works for NFL Network, where h ...

. 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, the

and

. 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 The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

, and

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

. The

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

and

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The ...

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 The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

, and

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

. 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 The NFL International Series is a series of American football games during the National Football League (NFL) regular season that are played outside the United States. The series has several sub-series: the NFL London Games in the United Ki ...

and

Bills Toronto Series The Bills Toronto Series were a series of National Football League (NFL) games featuring the Buffalo Bills played at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The original series began in the 2008 season and ran through 2012. The Bills were o ...

games in 2011. Compass Media expanded their coverage to 60 games a season with the new contracts.

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 ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...

, 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 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level for all sports, and its Co ...

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

Big East Conference The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

, and the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

. In December 2009, Compass Media announced they had gained the national radio broadcasting rights for the

Texas Bowl The Texas Bowl is an annual postseason NCAA-sanctioned Division I FBS college football bowl game first held in 2006 in Houston, Texas. Each edition of the bowl has been played at NRG Stadium, previously known as Reliant Stadium. The bowl replace ...

. The Texas Bowl rights lasted only one season as

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. 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.

Major League baseball coverage

In April 2012, Compass announced an agreement with

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. Since 1966, the team has pl ...

to air 25 games out-of-market throughout the team's 2012 season.

and

Steve Quis Steve Quis is an American sportscaster who is based in San Diego, CA and employed by Spectrum SportsNet, ESPN, UC San Diego, San Diego Strike Force, University of Arizona, San Diego Clippers and San Diego Miramar College as Public Information ...

were named as play-by-play announcers for the broadcasts, with

Steve Phillips Stephen Francis Phillips (born May 18, 1963) is an American baseball analyst and former baseball executive. He served as the general manager of the New York Mets from 1997 through 2003. He worked as a baseball analyst for ESPN from 2005 until h ...

and

Darryl Hamilton Darryl Quinn Hamilton (December 3, 1964 – June 21, 2015) was an American professional baseball outfielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1988 and 2001 for the Milwaukee Brewers, Texas Rangers, San Francisco Giants, Colorado ...

to serve as analysts. For the 2013 season, Compass acquired rights to select

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in the Tampa Bay area. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. They are one of two major ...

home games to increase their MLB coverage. Compass has not syndicated MLB games since the 2013 season.

Former Programs

*''

The Schnitt Show Todd Andrew Schnitt (born January 24, 1966), known professionally as Todd Schnitt and MJ Kelli, is an American radio DJ and was previously a conservative talk radio host. Beginning in October 2020, he began hosting the "MJ Morning Show" on "Q10 ...

''.

Todd Schnitt Todd Andrew Schnitt (born January 24, 1966), known professionally as Todd Schnitt and MJ Kelli, is an American radio DJ and was previously a conservative talk radio host. Beginning in October 2020, he began hosting the "MJ Morning Show" on "Q10 ...

is a

conservative talk Conservative talk radio is a talk radio format in the United States and other countries devoted to expressing conservative viewpoints of issues, as opposed to progressive talk radio. The definition of conservative talk is generally broad enough ...

show host based in

Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

. His show is broadcast live weekdays 3 to 6 p.m. ET from

WHNZ WHNZ (1250 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Tampa, Florida. The station's broadcast license is held by iHM Licenses, LLC, a subsidiary of iHeartMedia. The station airs a talk and business format. WHNZ is one of the eight stat ...

and distributed nationwide to an affiliate lineup of nearly two dozen stations.

References

External links

Compass Media Networks websiteThe Free Beer and Hot Wings Show website
{{Dallas Cowboys American radio networks NFL on the radio Major League Baseball on the radio College basketball on the radio in the United States College football on the radio Companies based in Westchester County, New York Radio stations established in 2009