Westwood One has announced that starting in January 2019, Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro will expand the one-hour radio broadcast of his Ben Shapiro Show podcast by adding two hours of live radio, making a three-hour program total.
Westwood One stated:
Earlier this year Westwood One made history as the first company to bring a podcast to broadcast in the commercial segment when The Ben Shapiro Show podcast became a dedicated radio show in 60 markets — debuting on WABC-AM in New York and top market stations in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington D.C. The show has been so successful that Westwood One and Ben Shapiro are adding the two-hour LIVE radio show in addition to the one-hour podcast broadcast. The live show will air from 4-6pm EST.
Breaking the mold once again, the live radio show will forego nationally recorded ads, and restrict advertising opportunities to a limited number of powerful live reads like the ones heard in Ben’s podcast.
Shapiro stated:
I grew up on talk radio and cut my teeth there. There’s no medium that allows the exchange of ideas and the explanation of detailed narratives better than talk radio and I can’t wait to bring two more live hours to listeners across the country. And we’re going to bring the values of podcasts – islands of advertising surrounded by oceans of content – to talk radio, too, merging the best of both worlds. Westwood One is a tremendously innovative partner, and I can’t wait to get started!
Suzanne Grimes, Executive Vice President, Marketing for Cumulus Media and President, Westwood One, added, “Ben Shapiro is a luminary for young conservatives, and a stunningly exciting discovery for political talk radio fans. Since debuting his podcast on the radio, listenership is up dramatically on his podcast and in his radio broadcast markets, in the latest testament to the power of Ben’s narrative. Expanding Ben’s reach with a two-hour live radio show is another milestone in our dynamic partnership.”
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