The story
Mediabase was founded in 1985 by Nancy and Rich Deitemeyer (a.k.a. Rich Meyer). Originally known as Mediascan, the company changed its name to Mediabase in 1987. Mediabase became the industry's first mass-airplay monitoring company in late 1987. After its inception, Mediabase was purchased by a private equity group based in Detroit, Michigan, then acquired by California-based Premiere Radio Networks, Jacor Communications, Clear Channel Communications, and ultimately, Bain Capital.
In January 1988, Mediabase began publishing a trade magazine known as Monday Morning Replay, featuring monitored airplay in the top 35 US radio markets. Mediabase then expanded its coverage to 180 US and Canadian markets. In 1992, Mediabase transitioned to delivery by data disk. In 1997, Mediabase moved its product to the Internet. Over the years, Mediabase has supplied data to numerous trade business-to-business (B-to-B) publications including Radio & Records, Network Magazine Group, Gavin, Hits, and Friday Morning Quarterback. Mediabase charts appear every Friday (originally every Tuesday until during the 3rd quarter of 2015) in USA Today's LIFE section. Mediabase serves as the official music chart provider for USA Today, the American Music Awards, and numerous syndicated programs, such as American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest.
From Wikipedia’s article on Mediabase, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4