Pattiz: foreign policy, nuke stockpile, media consolidation

Norman J Pattiz [Net worth: $350 million]

"In the Middle East, you have people who don't care what the United States has to say. They don't like our policies. They believe they know our policies, which have been introduced to them in an environment that is hardly friendly to the United States."
-- publicdiplomacy.wikia.com/wiki/Norman_Pattiz

"They do their own news. To expect the indigenous media to do anything other than what they’ve already been doing, I think is naive to the extreme."
-- http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media-jan-june04-voice_04-15/

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Norman J Pattiz a regent of the University of California, appointed Sept 21st, 2001... 10 days after 9/11.  First term as Regent expired March 1, 2004.  Second term expired March 1, 2014.  Both terms were appointments by former governor Davis.  Has been appointed for a third term by current governor Brown; this term is to end March 1, 2026.

Is Chairperson of the Board of Directors of both Los Alamos National Security and Lawrence Livermore National Security, the corporations which manage Los Alamos National Lab (LANL) and Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL).  These labs are involved in maintaining the nuclear stockpile, developing nuclear weapons research, as well as drone research and other advanced technologies that have military applications.  In February of this year, 22 Los Alamos National Lab workers were contaminated by a radiation leak.  57 nuclear waste containers at LANL were identified as potential source of radioactive contamination, after at least one of the containers leaked at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.  A change in the type of cat-litter used for waste storage was chemically reactive with untreated nitrate salts in the nuclear waste.  LANL container shipments to a temporary storage facility in Texas were halted, after the leak was discovered.  The compromised containers were stored in outdoors; the contamination has been recognized as a threat to the environment and to public health by the State Environment Department Secretary of New Mexico.

Is on the Region 1 Homeland Security Advisory Board, and is also director of the Office of Foreign Relations of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department.  Is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a think-tank for US foreign policy and international affairs.  Pattiz is a member of the Israel Policy Forum.

As chairman of the Middle East Committee of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, Pattiz developed, backed by the US government, Radio Sawa and Al Hurra Television.  The Broadcasting Board of Governors is responsible for supervising all non-military US government-supported international media including 'The Voice of America', 'Radio Free Europe', 'Radio Liberty', 'Middle East Broadcasting'.  Radio Sawa's annual budget is $22 million.  Al Hurra Television has been described by the Washington Post as "the U.S. government's largest and most expensive effort to sway foreign opinion over the airwaves since the creation of Voice of America in 1942".  Al Hurra, which translates to "The Free One", is the "most expensive foreign broadcasting effort undertaken by the US government" (ProPublica).  The tv network, which started broadcasting 14 February 2004, was used by the US government to counter the reporting of Al Jazeera.  In the Middle East both Radio Sawa and Al Hurra have been criticized for broadcasting US propaganda.  In the US the effectiveness of Radio Sawa and Al Hurra has been repeatedly been debated over the years.  There are many skeptics of Radio Sawa who beleive that listeners of the station tune in only for the music, and are not being persuaded/influenced by the station's western political ideas.  In a 2004 PBS interview, Cairo business man Ahmed Rizk, who had been watching Al Hurra "since day one" stated "it’s really Hurra, you know, it’s what we call “American freedom.” It’s not that kind of freedom you give to your people. We don’t need that kind of station, we need real freedom."

In 1976, Pattiz founded the radio network WestWood One.  In 1982, WestWood stations were broadcasting via satellite, an arrangement made with idb Communications.  Westwood One went public in 1984; earnings from the IPO were used to acquire Mutual Broadcasting System Inc from Amway Corp in 1985.  Mutual's 860 affiliated stations doubled the size of his radio assets to a value of $50 million (in 1985 value).  Mutual, as a brand name under WestWood One, was eventually discontinued in 1999.

In 1987 WestWood purchased NBC Radio for $50 million cash and stock option.  With the deal, Pattiz's radio assests controlled 30% of the US radio marketplace.  The purchase of NBC Radio took place during a labor dispute in which 2,800 National Assn. of Broadcast Employees and Technicians were out on strike against NBC Radio.

In 1993, WestWood One purchased Unistar Radio Networks from Infinity Broadcasting for $101.3 million.  As part of the purchase deal, Infinity bought 25 percent of WestWood stock - an initial order of $15 million to buy 5 million shares Westwood stock, with a later order of 3 million more shares for $9 million.  Westwood gained syndication rights to CNN Radio though the purchase of Unistar.

In 2010, Pattiz retired from the board of WestWood One, and became Chairman Emeritus.  Westwood was merged into Dial Global in October 21st of 2011. The brand WestWood One was discontinued, until Dial Global reorganized itself into a second iteration of WestWood One.

After the merger with Dial Global, Norman Pattiz founded the Courtside Entertainment Group, which broadcasts sports entertainment as well as political talk radio, such as the conservative 'Laura Engram Show'. On November 7th of 2011, Courtside broadcast its first national radio special, a GOP town hall event hosted by Bill O'Reilly.

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http://www.forbes.com/profile/norman-pattiz-1
http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/ceos/norman-pattiz-net-worth
http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/about/members-and-advisors/index.html#appointed
http://www.dailycal.org/2014/01/17/brown-appoints-4-individuals-uc-board-regents
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/potential-imminent-threat-from-new-mexico-nuclear-waste-officials-say
http://www.tcetoday.com/latest%20news/2014/may/wrong-cat-litter-caused-wipp-nuclear-release.aspx
http://nukefreetexas.org/2014/05/lanl-waste-shipments-suspended/
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Alhurra
http://www.milligazette.com/Archives/15022002/15022200244.htm
http://www.radioworld.com/TabId/64/Default.aspx?ArticleId=24769
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1985-09-17/business/8503030017_1_radio-stations-amway-radio-network
http://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/21/business/nbc-to-sell-its-radio-networks.html
http://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/12/business/the-media-business-infinity-broadcasting-to-buy-interest-in-westwood-one.html
http://articles.latimes.com/1987-07-21/entertainment/ca-5298_1_radio-network
http://www.factbites.com/topics/Radio-Sawa
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28031-2004Oct12.html
http://publicdiplomacy.wikia.com/wiki/Public_Diplomacy,_Books,_Articles,_Websites_3