Dial Global (NASDAQ: DIAL) is an American radio programming syndication company majority-owned by Oaktree Capital Management and The Gores Group.
Dial Global was founded as X Radio Networks as a division of Excelsior Radio Networks. It merged with Dial Communications and Global Media in 2006, from which it derived the Dial Global name. Dial Global initially specialized in syndicated weekend music programs of various types. In 2007 it acquired the former Transtar Radio Networks from Westwood One.
Triton Media Group purchased Excelsior in early 2008, and soon bought two of its three main competitors: Waitt Radio Networks and Jones Radio Networks. Triton uses the Dial Global name for all of its programming. It later bought the remainder of Westwood One in 2011, with some of Westwood One's ownership taking stakes in Dial Global.
As a result of its purchases and merger with Westwood One, Dial Global controls the remnants of several previous radio networks, including NBC, Mutual, Transtar, RKO, Waitt, Jones, BPI, and Drake-Chenault; as well as the distribution rights to the CBS Radio Network, whose stations are owned by CBS Corporation (although Townsquare has purchased stations from CBS as the latter exits the smaller markets). Dial Global's numerous acquisitions prompted rival Talk Radio Network to file an antitrust lawsuit against Dial Global in August 2012.
By late 2012, Dial Global was showing signs of financial distress. On November 15, Dial Global announced a disappointing third quarter that it attributed in part to the financial impact of its exposure to the controversy surrounding a certain controversial talk personality, which was widely assumed to be a veiled reference to Rush Limbaugh in the wake of the Sandra Fluke matter. It simultaneously announced that it had filed for delisting from NASDAQ. At the time of the announcement, its stock was trading at $2.00 a share; by mid-January 2013, DG's stock was trading at .30 a share. In a SEC 8-K filing dated January 15, 2013, DG announced that it had extended a loan waiver agreement with certain lenders.
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