As first reported last night by the New York Post, Cumulus has acquired the rights to CNN’s content to distribute to radio stations.
The content will be distributed by WestwoodOne and allow stations to implement the content under their own branding. As an example Cumulus states that its Nash branded Country stations will run the content under the “Nash News” name.
Cumulus announces a new Westwood One news service powered by CNN’s worldwide newsgathering resources. This new service will offer radio stations nationwide access to broadcast, breaking news, wire service and digital content provided by CNN for use on the air and on their websites.
Westwood One is the leader in news and information distribution, with 10,000 radio affiliates in the United States, and owns the patented STORQ technology that provides a local feel to syndicated content. The addition of this new service will for the first time enable local radio stations to broadcast the latest national and international news acquired by CNN but branded with their own call letters and station slogans.
Powered by CNN’s award-winning worldwide newsgathering resources and produced for local stations by the veteran news team at Westwood One, these news segments will fit seamlessly into stations’ formats and encourage more stations to air news content. As an example of how the new “white label” news format will sound on the air, Country format stations operating under the NASH brand created by Cumulus will introduce “NASH News” segments.
“Our affiliates and advertising partners know they can count on us for news and information products that reflect how people today consume content through various platforms, and this exclusive access to CNN’s newsgathering will ensure we can provide stations nationwide an unmatched array of news formats,” said Lew Dickey, CEO of Cumulus.
“People that are serious about the business of news are in business with CNN,” said Ed Stephen, Senior Vice President and General Manager for CNN Newsource. “We look forward to helping Cumulus build a world-class radio news service.”
Joseph_Gallant
It appears that “Nash News” will only feature stories about country music and not hard news; otherwise, I would think CNN content distributed by Cumulus to”Nash FM” stations would have been branded as “CNN”.