PODCASTS RISING LUCKBOX LEANS IN WITH NORM PATTIZ
ONE NETWORK UNDER NORM Norm Pattiz built Westwood One, the nation’s largest radio network, before turning podcasting power player at PodcastOne Jeff Joseph
n 1976, National Radio Hall of Famer Norm Pattiz founded I a radio syndication company that grew to become Westwood One, the nation’s largest radio network. He started Launchpad in 2012, which a year later became PodcastOne. His podcast network offers more than 300 shows, with stars that include Adam Carolla, Kaitlyn Bristowe and Shaquille O’Neal. Luckbox sat down with Pattiz to get a better understanding of what’s transforming radio into podcasting. Why is radio evolving into podcasting?
It’s a logical evolution. Before the advent of television, radio was the medium for programs. Radio had to alter its programming because television became the dominant medium of programs. The programs that people listened to were now programs that they would watch. And that prompted the advent of formatic radio—much more narrowly focused, much less network oriented, more locally oriented, with styles of music that appeal to a particular audience. Really, with the advent of “narrowcasting” radio began to thrive. As a local medium, radio grew every single year for 30 years. My background was not radio. My background was television— television as a medium of programs. So, in starting Westwood One as a syndication
Narrowcasting: Aiming media messages at specific segments of the public defined by values, preferences and demographics. It’s based on the postmodern marketing idea that mass audiences no longer exist.
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company, I didn’t know the rules, and I couldn’t be limited by them. For instance, you don’t put a radio show that’s focused toward blacks on white Top 40 radio stations. My first radio program was a 24-hour special called The Sound of Motown. Now, to me, Motown was pop music. I didn’t look at this as particularly ethnic, but a lot of people in the radio business did. But because I didn’t know what you don’t do, I did it anyway. Fifty percent of the radio stations that carried The Sound of the Motown were big honkin’ Top 40 AM radio stations at the time. I managed to get three major national advertisers whom I knew from television interested in the project, and they sponsored it. And then, after the conclusion of that particular project, I thought, “There’s a business here.” Each of the three national advertisers liked its experience in The Sound of Motown, so we set about producing individual syndicated radio shows for each of those three advertisers. One program led to another, and we basically found a formula for providing
radio stations with special programming and the kinds of things that differentiated them. We had a pretty open playing field at the time,and made a point of developing programming in every category that advertisers wanted—which is something that we’ve carried through today with PodcastOne. How large did Westwood One become?
Westwood One had gone from grossing $200,000 a year off of the single program, The Sound of Motown, to a company that was approaching $600 million in annual revenue. So, it grew rapidly and became a public company. And at its peak market cap
luckbox | august–october 2020
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