Rebranding

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In 1989, the NBC Radio Network as an independent programming service ceased to exist, becoming a brand-name for content produced by Westwood One. The Sunday morning religious program The Eternal Light, for years the only non-news program on the networks' lineup, also ended its long run at the same time. NBC Radio's news and engineering operations in New York were moved to Arlington and combined with the Mutual Broadcasting System, which Westwood One had acquired in 1985 and essentially merged with NBC Radio. However, both networks' newscasts remained separate and distinct; while field reporters were shared, each network had different formats and anchors.^{[citation needed]}

NBC Radio's logo from NBC's May 12, 1986 corporate-wide re-branding until its 2004 dissolution. Following the sale to Westwood One, a byline would be affixed in most cases. The current NBC News Radio logo is styled in the same manner.

By 1992, however, both NBC Radio and Mutual's newscasts were streamlined further and took on similar formats. The two networks aired their own newscasts between 6 am and 10 pm eastern time weekdays, but one newscast would be produced each hour for use on both networks on overnights and weekends. The only differences between those newscasts were the recorded introductions, commercials and concluding network identifications. NBC Radio's and Mutual's distinct weekend sportscasts were canceled in favor of "The Scoreboard," a generic, one-minute hourly sportscast, airing seven times each on Saturdays and Sundays.^[47] As a result, most major-market NBC Radio affiliates eventually switched over to either CBS, ABC or CNN Radio throughout the 1990s, leaving only small-market and rural stations or stations that aired only the network-fed commercials.^[48]
Only one new program was ever introduced by NBC following the sale: an early morning news magazine and talk show by the name of First Light, hosted by Dirk Van, which was intended as a complement to Mutual's like-formatted "America In The Morning." "The Source" and "Talknet" services would continue on for several years under the "NBC" brand. Throughout the late 1990s, the latter consisted solely of Bruce Williams' talk show until his departure from the network on June 15, 2001, thereby ending the "Talknet" service for good.^{[citation needed]}
Westwood One entered into an operations agreement with Infinity Broadcasting in 1994, agreeing to handle syndication for both Don Imus and Howard Stern, while Infinity would take over Westwood One's management, sales and operations,^[49] and by December 1996, CBS's new parent company, Westinghouse, acquired Infinity for just shy of $5 billion.^[50] The direct descendants of the three original U.S. network companies – NBC, CBS and Mutual – had merged. On August 31, 1998, Mutual/NBC's Arlington operation closed, leaving CBS Radio staff directly responsible for the production of "Mutual" and "NBC"-branded newscasts from CBS' New York facilities.^{[citation needed]}
Westwood One decided to retire the Mutual brand name as a programming service on May 17, 1999. On that same day, the production of "NBC"-branded newscasts also were limited to weekday mornings (5 a.m. – 10 a.m. EST), while CNN Radio newscasts were fed to affiliates during the rest of the day and weekends. These "NBC" newscasts, still produced by CBS Radio staff, were now just generic newscasts which had a terse "This is the NBC Radio Network" identification at the newscasts' conclusion. Otherwise, no mention of NBC was given beyond the introductory sounder at the beginning. Westwood One still promoted the NBC Radio Network on their corporate website, mentioning that "The NBC Network delivers a large audience of adult female listeners ... comprised of Adult Contemporary, Country, Oldies, Nostalgia and Jazz music stations."^[48]
Meanwhile, Westwood One also began to distribute Fox News Radio in 2001 in an arrangement with the cable network of the same name, with "First Light" host Dirk Van as their first morning-drive anchor. After that arrangement ended, Westwood One launched NBC News Radio in its place on March 31, 2003, consisting of news updates read by CNBC anchors and reporters, but with the content written by Westwood One staff. (Eventually, the newscasts would come to be written and anchored by staff from NBC News and MSNBC.) In addition, these are brief one-minute news updates fed only on weekdays from 6 am – 10 p.m. EST, as opposed to the original five-minute-long newscasts. Those original "NBC"-branded newscasts, overlapped with NBC News Radio's newscasts until finally ceasing production at or around May 2004.^{[citation needed]}
Dial Global acquired the majority of Westwood One's assets on October 21, 2011, including the distribution rights to NBC News Radio. Only one program from the original NBC Radio Network remains on the air: First Light, and had the NBC peacock embedded into the show logo well into the late 1990s. After the "NBC"-branded newscasts were generally phased out, the show was then branded as a Westwood One product, but host Dirk Van would still make the brief announcement, "From Westwood One, this is NBC Radio" at the halfway point and conclusion of every show.^{[citation needed]}
This practice officially ended in the middle of the October 27, 2011 program, as Dial Global's purchase of Westwood One resulted in a wholesale re-branding of all Westwood One programming.^[51] First Light became entirely identified as a "Dial Global Radio Network" program the next day, thereby removing (at least temporarily) the very last trace of the original network from active use.^{[citation needed]}

NBC News Radio