Norm Pattiz, the founder of Westwood One, which went from being the leading distributor of live-concert broadcasts to one of the top U.S. radio-station groups, died Sunday. He was 79.

A member of the National Radio Hall of Fame, Pattiz created Westwood One in 1976 to nationally syndicate a Motown series, The Sound of Motown. Soon thereafter he added The Dr. Demento Show and Off the Record With Mary Turner. Turner, a KMET DJ, would later become his wife.

Five years after starting the company, he began recording concerts—a Chuck Berry show was the first—and it became the company’s calling card. Westwood One went public in 1984 and Pattiz used the funds to acquire Mutual Broadcasting, the NBC Radio Network and the trade publication Radio & Records. He also lured Casey Kasem away from ABC.

Pattiz, who stepped away from day-to-day management in the early 1990s yet remained the company's largest shareholder, retired as chairman in 2010 and founded Courtside Entertainment Group—named for his courtside Lakers season tickets—syndicating Laura Ingraham and producing Loveline With Dr. Drew. In 2013, he launched PodcastOne through his Launchpad Digital Media. LiveOne bought the company in 2020.

“With Norm Pattiz’s passing, we have lost a true media visionary,” said Suzanne Grimes, president of Westwood One and EVP of marketing for Cumulus Media. “He founded Westwood One, which grew to become the largest radio network in the United States and one of the top media companies in the world. His legacy lives on in all of us at Westwood One.”

Pattiz was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2009 and received the Library of American Broadcasting Foundation's Giants of Broadcasting Award the same year.