Norman Joel Pattiz (January 18, 1943 – December 4, 2022) was an American broadcasting entrepreneur who founded radio network

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 ...

. Pattiz was a member of the

National Radio Hall of Fame The Radio Hall of Fame, formerly the National Radio Hall of Fame, is an American organization created by the Emerson Radio Corporation in 1988. Three years later, Bruce DuMont, founder, president, and CEO of the Museum of Broadcast Communicati ...

Career

Pattiz worked in the sales dept at KCOP TV 13 in Hollywood from 1970 to 1974. He founded

, a radio syndication company, in 1976. It became America's largest radio network and one of the world's leading media companies. In 2001, Pattiz joined the board of regents of the University of California and served as chair of the board of the Regents Oversight Committee of the Department of Energy Laboratories. In January 2014, Governor of California

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic P ...

reappointed Pattiz to a second twelve year term on the board of regents. In November 2016, he was accused of workplace sexual harassment. The University of California Student Association called for dismissal of Pattiz from the board of regents in 2017 following an allegation by a podcast host. Pattiz apologized and claimed it was a joke. In December 2017, Pattiz resigned from the board of regents. Pattiz was also chairman of the board of Lawrence Livermore and

Los Alamos National Security Los Alamos National Security, LLC (LANS LLC) was a private limited liability company (LLC) formed by the University of California, Bechtel, BWX Technologies, and URS Energy and Construction (which was purchased by AECOM in 2014). From its creat ...

LLC and on the board of the

USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism The USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism is a part of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. It has 2,300 undergraduate and graduate students. Willow Bay is the dean. Prof. Hector Amaya is the Director of the Sc ...

. He was president of the

Broadcast Education Association The Broadcast Education Association (BEA) is an international academic organization originating and operating mainly out of the United States. The BEA is devoted to multimedia research and teaching, and retains the historical purpose to prepare col ...

and was on the

Council of Foreign Relations A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nation ...

and the

Pacific Council on International Policy The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

. He was appointed by

President Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the att ...

for the United States

Broadcasting Board of Governors The United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), known as the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) from 1994 to 2018, is an independent agency of the United States government that broadcasts news and information for regions of the world wi ...

(BBG), which oversees all U.S. non-military international broadcast services, in 2000, and reappointed by President Bush in 2002. He was chairman of BBG's Middle East Committee, where he helped create the

U.S. government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, executi ...

's Arabic-language radio and TV services broadcast to the 22

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

countries, including

Radio Sawa Radio Sawa ( ) was an Arabic speaking radio station broadcasting to the Arab world from March 23, 2002 till November 2024. The station was a service of the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Inc., which also operates Alhurra Television and was pub ...

and

Alhurra Alhurra ( ' ,The pronunciation differs depending on the variety of Arabic, for example, . "the Free One") is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. government-owned Arabic-language satellite TV channel that broadcasts news and current ...

Television. In 2009, Pattiz was inducted into the

. Pattiz also received the Giants of Broadcasting Award from the

Library of American Broadcasting The Library of American Broadcasting – a Washington, D.C. institution since 1972 – was founded as the Broadcast Pioneers Library in space donated by the National Association of Broadcasters in their headquarters. The collection was thought up ...

. Pattiz founded Courtside Entertainment Group in 2010 and was the company’s CEO. In October 2012, Pattiz founded Launchpad, which became

PodcastOne LiveOne (formerly known as LiveXLive) is a Los Angeles-based streaming platform that provides livestreams of concerts and festivals, curated radio stations, podcasts, and original artist video and audio content. History LiveXLive LiveXLive was ...

in February 2013.Radio guru turns podcast curator.
With PodcastOne, Norman Pattiz aims to package talk shows to gain listener and advertiser interest. (LA Times February 28, 2013) Pattiz worked with the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

and

Jay Mohr Jon Ferguson "Jay" Mohr (born August 23, 1970) is an American actor, stand-up comedian and radio host. He is known for playing film producer Peter Dragon in the television comedy series '' Action'' in 1999, Professor Rick Payne in the television ...

to develop the "America's Lakers Podcast With Jay Mohr" in 2017. Pattiz was inspired by his support of the Lakers, including his 35 years with courtside seats.

Personal life and death

Pattiz is Jewish and was married to Mary Turner, former radio personality and chairman of the board of the

Betty Ford Center The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is an addiction treatment and advocacy organization that was created in 2014 with the merger of the Minnesota-based Hazelden Foundation and the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California, in the United State ...

. They resided in both

Beverly Hills, California Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hills ...

, and

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...

. He was a reserve deputy in the

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD), officially the County of Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, is a law enforcement agency serving Los Angeles County, California. LASD is the largest sheriff's department in the United States a ...

and a member of the Region 1 Homeland Security Advisory Council. He was the benefactor of the Academy of Music at

Hamilton High School Hamilton High School may refer to: United States Alabama * Hamilton High School (Alabama) in Hamilton Arizona * Hamilton High School (Chandler, Arizona) in Chandler Arkansas * Lake Hamilton High School in Pearcy California * Hamilton High Sc ...

and on the board of the Sheriff's Youth Foundation. The Norman J. Pattiz Concert Hall on the Hamilton campus is named in his honor. Pattiz died on December 4, 2022, at the age of 79.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pattiz, Norm 1943 births 2022 deaths Businesspeople from Los Angeles Santa Monica College alumni 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews University of California regents