Cowboy State News Network

What Cowboy State News Network does

Cowboy State News Network (CSNN) is a Wyoming-based radio news and sports programming network that was launched in 2001 by Dave Montgomery as part of Montgomery Broadcasting L.L.C. The network produces and distributes 22 news, sports, and specialty programs per weekday during prime-time hours (6am-7pm) to approximately 40-50 affiliate radio stations across Wyoming, reaching roughly 250,000 listeners on weekdays. Its core products include CSNN News Programming and CSNN Sports Programming, the latter of which features University of Wyoming football and basketball broadcasts as well as high school sports coverage. The company has been the exclusive Wyoming member of the National Association of State Radio Networks since 2009, an arrangement that brings Nielsen National Research access and signals membership in a peer group of high-performing state radio networks.

The business model is built on radio advertising: advertisers can purchase a single buy that distributes across the entire CSNN affiliate network for statewide coverage, with rates provided on request. Audience segmentation is primarily geographic — Wyoming residents and the affiliate stations that serve them — and the company also distributes editorial content via its website at cowboystatenews.com, with dedicated categories for news, sports, and Great Outdoors content. The website integrates an AccuWeather widget for weather utility. Pricing is opaque to the public and available only on request.

The firm is privately held with no disclosed institutional funding, headquartered in Cheyenne, Wyoming at 1806 Capital Avenue. Leadership comprises owner David Montgomery, General Manager Cathy Jarosh (a Leadership Wyoming graduate who also sits on the National Association of State Radio Networks board), News Director Jared Schaefer (ex-iHeartRadio, Illinois Broadcasters Association award winner), and award-winning sportscaster Keith Kelley. CSNN has earned more than a dozen Associated Press and Wyoming Association of Broadcasters awards, and Dave Montgomery was inducted into the Wyoming Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2013. The technology stack is conventional broadcast and web publishing; no proprietary AI, machine learning, or advanced software capabilities are evident from the data provided.

Name

Cowboy State News Network

Legal name

Cowboy State News Network

Website

https://cowboystatenews.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Cowboy State News Network is a Wyoming-based radio network that produces and distributes 22 daily news, sports, and specialty programs to approximately 40-50 affiliate stations statewide, reaching roughly 250,000 weekday listeners via single-buy statewide radio advertising.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Radio Broadcasting Services

NAICS

Radio Broadcasting Stations (516110), Radio Broadcasting Stations (51611)

SIC

Radio Broadcasting Stations (4832)

akta.pro primary industry

Talk/News/Sports Radio Networks & Syndication (MPAIAEAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

News/Talk Radio Networks (MPABABAD), Sports Radio Networks & Talk Stations (MPABAJAB), News Talk Radio & Current Affairs Stations (MPABAIAI)

Keywords

• Radio news programming
• Sports broadcasting network
• Statewide advertising distribution
• Affiliate radio syndication
• News content production

Headquarters

HQ city

Cheyenne

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Radio Advertising: CSNN generates revenue through advertising, offering single ad buys that reach the entire state of Wyoming through their network of radio stations. Rates are available upon request.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Cowboy State News Network produces and distributes news, sports, and specialty radio programming to approximately 40 radio stations across Wyoming. The network airs 22 news, sports, and specialty programs per weekday during prime-time hours (6am–7pm), reaching approximately 250,000 listeners. CSNN also sells statewide radio advertising reach through a single advertising buy to businesses seeking statewide coverage.

Product overview

Cowboy State News Network is a radio news and sports programming network that produces and distributes content to approximately 40-50 radio stations across Wyoming. The network delivers 22 news, sports, and specialty programs per weekday during prime-time hours, reaching approximately 250,000 listeners. CSNN's core offerings include news programming and sports programming (including University of Wyoming broadcasts), distributed through its affiliate radio stations. The network also partners with 1WYO, an NIL collective supporting University of Wyoming student-athletes. Advertising services are available for statewide reach through a single advertising buy.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• CSNN News Programming Daily news programming produced by CSNN and distributed to approximately 40 radio stations across Wyoming, reaching approximately 250,000 weekday listeners during prime-time hours (6am–7pm), Monday through Friday.
• CSNN Sports Programming Sports programming including University of Wyoming football and basketball broadcasts, high school sports coverage, and sports talk shows, distributed to affiliate radio stations across Wyoming.
• Statewide Radio Advertising Distribution Statewide advertising reach sold as a single advertising buy across approximately 40 affiliate radio stations in Wyoming, airing 22 news, sports, and specialty programs per day during prime-time hours (6am–7pm) and reaching approximately 250,000 weekday listeners. Rates are available upon request.

Quantifiable outcome

• Reaches approximately 250,000 listeners
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• National Association of State Radio NetworkscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2009CSNN is the exclusive Wyoming member of the National Association of State Radio Networks. This prestigious membership is awarded to just one radio network per state. Members commit to high standards of performance and membership is regarded as a privilege. The association provides Nielsen National Research to member states.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Compass Media Networks: Compass Media Networks syndicates sports, talk, and entertainment radio programming to affiliate stations across regional and national footprints. It mirrors CSNN's model of producing localized-format content for a defined licensee base and selling ads against that reach.
• Radio America: Radio America is a radio syndicator focused on news, talk, and political programming distributed to stations nationwide. It is closely comparable to CSNN in producing daily news/talk content for affiliate broadcasters and monetizing through advertising.
• Salem Radio Network: Salem Radio Network (part of Salem Media Group) syndicates news, talk, and opinion programming to radio affiliates, including statewide and regional networks. It directly parallels CSNN's news/talk syndication and advertiser-funded business model.
• Westwood One: Westwood One is one of the largest U.S. radio network syndicators, distributing news, talk, and sports content (including NCAA, NFL, and Olympic programming) to affiliate stations nationwide. Like CSNN, it produces editorial and sports programming centrally and monetizes through advertising, making it directly comparable on the network/syndication business model.
• USA Radio Network: USA Radio Network is a national radio programming network syndicating news, talk, agriculture, and lifestyle content to affiliates. It is comparable in operating model — centralized content production, affiliate distribution, ad sales — though at national rather than single-state scale.
• Genesis Communications: Genesis Communications is an independent radio syndicator producing and distributing talk, news, and sports programming to affiliate stations. Its scale and product mix make it a small/independent analog to CSNN's network.

Broad incumbents

• Cumulus Media: Cumulus Media operates a large portfolio of owned-and-operated radio stations plus the Westwood One network, providing radio advertising at scale. While much larger, its station-network + advertising buy model is structurally analogous to CSNN's affiliate network offering.
• CBS News Radio: CBS News Radio (part of Audacy/CBS network operations) syndicates hourly newscasts and news programming to radio affiliates nationally. It overlaps with CSNN's core news-syndication product and represents an incumbent national competitor in the same advertising-funded radio news category.
• Learfield: Learfield manages multimedia rights (including radio play-by-play) for university sports, including University of Wyoming-adjacent properties, and produces syndicated sports content for radio affiliates. Its statewide and campus-level sports distribution model is structurally comparable to CSNN's UW-focused sports broadcasting.
• Premiere Networks: Premiere Networks (an iHeartMedia division) is the largest radio syndicator in the U.S., distributing talk, news, and sports shows to thousands of stations. It is broadly comparable to CSNN as a multi-format radio programming network and ad-buy aggregator, though at a national scale many times larger.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CowboyStateNews
• Facebookfacebook.com/Cowboy-State-News-Network-100062925775423
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cowboy-state-news-network

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cowboy State News Network