Westwood One founder Norm Pattiz is retiring from the board to become chairman emeritus; Mark Stone, senior managing director of the Gores Group, is succeeding him as board chairman.
Pattiz will become a consultant to Westwood One and work closely with Stone and Westwood’s senior management. In June of 2009, as RW reported, the company had said Pattiz would stay on as chairman for at least another two years.
Pattiz said giving up his chairman’s seat allows him to remain active in Westwood and also do other things. He’s chairman of the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos and Laurence Livermore National Security Laboratories and a regent of the University of California.
Pattiz served on the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors of the United States for six years. In 2009, Pattiz was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame, and received a “Giants of Broadcasting” Award from the Library of American Broadcasting.
Westwood One provides network radio programming to 5,000 radio and 165 TV stations; its Metro Traffic business has 2,2,50 affiliates for its traffic reporting and local news, sports and weather content.