Cumulus Media, Inc. is an American broadcasting company and is the third largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States behind Audacy and iHeartMedia. As of June 2019, Cumulus lists ownership of 428 stations in 87 media markets. It also owns and operates Westwood One. Its headquarters are located in Atlanta, Georgia. Its subsidiaries include Cumulus Broadcasting LLC, Cumulus Licensing LLC and Broadcast Software International Inc. Company history Origins Cumulus Media was established in August 1998 by radio consultant Lewis Dickey Jr. and media and technology entrepreneur Richard Weening. The Telecommunications Act of 1996, among other legislation, relaxed media ownership restrictions, allowing a single owner to possess or control an unprecedented number of radio stations per market and nationwide. Dickey, then a nationally known radio programming consultant, was acting as a consultant to a small radio group in which Weening had a personal investment. Weening signed onto Dickey's idea to acquire and operate radio stations in mid-size markets as opposed to the largest markets on which competing radio group Clear Channel Communications was focusing. Dickey was the radio expert and Weening was the corporate finance and start-up CEO. Dickey was president of both radio consulting firm Stratford Research and his family company, Midwestern Broadcasting, with two stations in Toledo, Ohio; these stations would later be acquired by Cumulus. Weening had successful experience as a start-up CEO in book and magazine publishing, online services and enterprise software systems. He was then CEO of Quaestus & Co., Inc., a private equity firm specializing in media and technology startups. For the new radio company, Weening chose the name Cumulus for the type of cloud formation for their ubiquity in the sky, which Weening and Dickey hoped would be the same for their stations across the country. Quaestus provided the seed capital to make the first station acquisitions as a model for the Cumulus business strategy. The next significant milestone was obtaining a $50 million investment from the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB), which previously invested in Weening's magazine publishing company. With this capital in place, Cumulus began full-scale operations on May 22, 1997. Weening assumed the role of Executive chairman focusing on acquisitions deal structuring, corporate finance, and internet from the company's original headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Dickey selected stations to buy and oversaw radio programming, operations and strategy as Executive vice-chairman. Dickey brought in highly