BREAKING NEWS: Clear Channel changes name to iHeartMedia.

Story by Inside Radio

Days before staging its biggest event of the year, Clear Channel announced it has changed its company name to iHeartMedia. The company says the new identity reflects its successful transformation into a multi-platform media company. The new moniker will serve as umbrella branding for its 859 radio stations, iHeartMedia Digital streaming service, radio networks live music events and related companies, including Katz Media Group and Clear Channel Outdoor.

The company’s parent CC Media Holdings, Inc. will become iHeartMedia, Inc. and its ticker symbol will also change, effective tomorrow. Clear Channel Media and Entertainment will become iHeartMedia; other company brands, including iHeartRadio, Premiere Networks, Total Traffic and Weather Network, Katz Media Group and RCS, will retain their current names.

In a statement, CEO Bob Pittman said the new name “reflects our commitment to being the media company that provides the most entertainment to the most engaged audiences wherever they go, with more content and more events in more places on more devices.”

Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. will retain the Clear Channel brand. “Although we are changing the parent company’s name, Clear Channel Outdoor is built into the fabric of our multi-platform company,” iHeart Media CFO president/CFO Richard Bressler explained in a statement.

Explaining the rationale behind the name change, the company says iHeartRadio has become the dominant national consumer brand among its assets with almost 70% consumer brand awareness and record-breaking digital growth, reaching 50 million registered users faster than any digital music service, and even faster than Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

“iHeartMedia was created by the strongest broadcast radio stations in the country, and we will continue to build this company the same way ¬ on the country’s strongest radio stations,” Pittman added. “We are especially excited because our digital platform extends the reach and impact for our wildly popular on-air personalities ¬ and it¹s a platform that only iHeartMedia provides.”