Audacy, Inc.

Audacy, Inc. is an American broadcasting company based in New York City. It was founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications Corp. and grew to become the second largest radio company in the United States, owning over 220 radio stations across 47 media markets.

In November 2017, the company merged with CBS Radio. After this merger, the company changed its name from Entercom to Audacy on March 30, 2021. On April 9, its ticker symbol on the New York Stock Exchange changed from "ETM" to "AUD".

Audacy, Inc. emerged from bankruptcy on September 30, 2024, and is now a privately owned company. The new ownership group includes Soros Fund Management, which now has controlling interest as part of their other audio investments.

History

Joseph M. Field started the company as Entertainment Communications on October 21, 1968, believing that FM radio would become more popular than AM radio.

During the 1990s, rules changed to allow one company to own more radio stations. Entercom used this to grow, buying stations in places like Portland, Oregon, in 1995. In 1999, Entercom became a public company and later bought many stations from Sinclair Broadcast Group, making it one of the biggest radio companies in the United States.

In 2017, Entercom merged with CBS Radio, becoming the second-largest radio station owner in the U.S. The company changed its name to Audacy in 2021 and faced financial challenges, filing for bankruptcy in 2024 but completing its restructuring later that year.

Partnerships

Audacy has made many partnerships to grow its services. In April 2019, it worked with Waze to let drivers listen to Radio.com's podcasts and audio through the app.

Over the years, Audacy partnered with many groups and companies. In 2020, it worked with Clark Atlanta University to help students learn about radio and digital media. That same year, it began working with SoundHound, Beasley Media Group, and GM to add Radio.com to car systems.

In 2021, Audacy brought in popular podcasts like "We Can Do Hard Things" hosted by Glennon Doyle, Abby Wambach, and Amanda Doyle. It also worked with Urban One and Cumulus to share more content.

Audacy also partnered with Hard Rock International for live events and music festivals. In 2022, it began working with Samsung to make its podcasts available on Samsung devices. Later, it partnered with CBS Sports Digital to help sell ads and share sports podcasts.

In 2023, Audacy worked with Allen Media Group to launch weather-related audio streams. It also partnered with Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) to bring Spanish-language stations to its app. Audacy also created a comedy podcast with Amy Poehler.

In 2024 and 2025, Audacy continued making new friends. It worked with Live365 to add more music stations, Super Hi-Fi to improve its technology, and ElevenLabs for voice artificial intelligence. It also partnered with IHeartMedia and IHeartRadio to share more radio stations and podcasts.

These partnerships help Audacy bring more shows, better technology, and new ways for listeners to enjoy audio content.

Businesses

Radio

See also: List of radio stations owned by Audacy, Inc.

In March 2021, Entercom changed its name to Audacy. All Audacy stations now say "An Audacy station" at the start of each hour or "Always Live On the Free Audacy App".

In July 2023, Audacy started a program called Launch to help new musicians. Through radio, online shows, and social media, Audacy shows these new artists to many listeners. The first three artists in this program were Jelly Roll, Warren Zeiders, and Doechii.

In May 2024, Audacy began a new project called “On The Record” to help the biggest names in music release their albums.

Digital

Audacy app (formerly Radio.com)

Main article: Audacy

When Audacy combined with CBS Radio, they got Radio.com, Eventful, and play.it.

The Audacy app, which used to be called Radio.com, offers over 230 local radio stations and their websites. Audacy now has more than 1,000 stations from over 100 different places.

On April 23, 2020, Radio.com streams started playing on Sonos Radio, which is in over 10 million homes around the world. One week later, Radio.com began showing on Comcast televisions.

All the Locked On podcasts were added to Radio.com on February 10, 2021, after an agreement to share content.

The Radio.com app changed its name to the Audacy app when the company rebranded in March 2021.

In March 2022, Audacy started the Audacy Digital Audience Network (ADAN). This group includes over 60 million listeners that other audio services don’t reach. It helps Audacy’s advertising partners connect with specific audiences.

In June 2023, Audacy started sharing its 250+ stations and all its podcasts on TuneIn. This agreement lets Audacy’s content be heard on over 200 more devices and services, including cars from Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid, as well as devices from Bose, Samsung, and Xbox, and on the TuneIn app and website.

Podcast

Audacy’s podcast network includes Cadence13, Pineapple Street Media, and Podcorn. This network is one of the biggest in the country, with 3000 podcasts and over two billion downloads. It reaches 30 million different listeners each month.

In 2019, Entercom bought Pineapple Street Media and part of Cadence13. In 2021, they bought Podcorn for $22.5 million.

In March 2024, Audacy brought all its podcast work together under the new name Audacy Podcasts. They stopped using the names Cadence13 and 2400Sports, but kept Pineapple Street Studios to make shows for partners like HBO, Netflix, Nike, Amazon Music/Wondery, and Spotify.

Cadence13

Main article: Cadence13

Cadence13, part of Audacy, was a podcast studio in New York City. It was started in 2015 by David Landau, Spencer Brown, Chris Corcoran, and Michael Rolnick. In 2017, Entercom bought part of the company for $9.7 million, and it became Cadence13. They made podcasts for famous people like historian Jon Meacham and basketball player Kevin Durant. In March 2024, Cadence13 stopped being a separate brand.

Pineapple Street Studios

Main article: Pineapple Street Studios

Pineapple Street Studios is a podcast studio in Brooklyn, New York. It was started in 2016 by Jenna Weiss-Berman and Max Linsky. In August 2019, Entercom bought it and renamed it Pineapple Street Studios.

On June 26, 2025, Audacy said it would close Pineapple Street Studios.

Podcorn

Podcorn helps match podcasts with ads. It was started by Agnes Kozera and David Kierzkowski after their previous company, FameBit, was bought by Google. Podcorn uses computer programs to connect podcasters with the right brands.

Sports

In April 2024, Audacy introduced Audacy Sports. This new part of the company includes 40 sports radio stations, 160 sports channels on the Audacy app, and the top sports podcast network with over 600 shows and live events. Audacy Sports is also home to teams like professional and college sports teams, broadcasting their games. It also creates two national sports networks together with Westwood One: Infinity Sports Network (formerly CBS Sports Radio) and BetQL Network. Audacy Sports works with Major League Baseball to bring special audio and podcasts for the league.

Sports betting

On September 3, 2019, Entercom’s RADIO.COM Sports made an agreement with The Action Network to share sports betting news on its stations and podcasts.

In late 2020, Entercom began working with FanDuel for six years. FanDuel would give betting information on Entercom stations. FanDuel would also use Entercom’s talent where both companies worked.

Shortly after the FanDuel deal, Entercom bought QL Gaming Group for about $32 million. After buying QL Gaming Group, Entercom started “BetQL Network” on RADIO.COM on January 25, 2021. This network shares sports betting news from Entercom’s stations around the country and can be heard on the radio in many places and on the Audacy app.

In March 2021, Entercom and Rush Street Interactive made a deal for several sports betting projects. As part of this deal, BetRivers, Rush Street Interactive’s main brand, became the title sponsor of Radio.com’s You Better You Bet podcast.

In June 2022, BetMGM became the only sportsbook for BetQL Network.

Corporate social responsibility

Each year, Audacy holds volunteer events across the country as part of its 1Day1Thing activity. These events bring together employees to help improve their communities and the planet.

Live experiences

Every year, Audacy puts on many live shows in cities across the country. Some of these shows include We Can Survive, Leading Ladies, Almost Acoustic Christmas, Riptide, and Stars & Strings.