About Mutual
Broadcast News
A network newscast service built by one broadcaster, shut down for honest reasons and brought back with new machinery.
The first run: 2013–2016
From 2013 to 2016, Leo Ashcraft ran Mutual Broadcast News as a syndicated radio newscast service and grew it to about 200 affiliate stations. The automation that produced and delivered the newscasts was his own work, built by hand.
Under the Mutual Broadcast Network name, the operation also offered stations custom local weather, custom local news, custom voiceovers and satellite syndication for talk programs.
The original MBN mark. The dish-and-waves logo from the first run has been redrawn for the relaunch: same idea, with a little more ink and a signal-red broadcast.
Why Mutual went off the air
As Mutual grew, so did Leo's other commitments. He was working with Art Bell on Midnight in the Desert and managing the Dark Matter Digital Network at the same time, and Mutual needed more attention than he could give it.
Mutual was sold to a Florida-based media company, and under its new ownership the network expanded to more than 400 affiliate stations. A few months later, that company decided to shut down its own operation, and Mutual with it.
Health concerns at the time meant it wasn't feasible for Leo to take the network back over.
Why it's coming back
Ten years later, new technology and better health have opened the door to bring Mutual Broadcast News back. Leo has rebuilt the network from the ground up on technology he designed and built himself. Stations sign up on the site and set up delivery with one command, with no installer and no service call. Commercial stations affiliate on barter. LPFM and full-power NCE stations, which can't air barter spots, subscribe instead.
Who's behind it
Mutual Broadcast News is a Nexus Broadcast business, owned and operated by Leo Ashcraft.
In keeping with Mutual's original tradition, Leo has once again built the technology behind the network himself, this time with state-of-the-art 2026 tools. It lets Mutual run more efficiently and deliver higher quality than ever before.
Mutual Broadcast News is inspired by the Mutual Broadcasting System, the national radio network that operated from 1934 to 1999, and proudly carries on its tradition of network news for independent stations. It is not connected to that network or to any of its successors.