CultureMap is sold to Houston-based media company

Houston-based Gow Media has acquired Texas lifestyle media network CultureMap for an undisclosed sum, the company announced Wednesday.

Gow Media CEO David Gow said he plans to eventually run sports news on the CultureMap network, founded in 2009, which includes digital publications in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio and Houston. He also said CultureMap writers could appear on Gow radio programs to discuss events around town.

“We’re in a world now where sports and culture intersect a great deal,” Gow said. “We want to build on what CultureMap has created and their loyal following. I think it will be natural over time, but we’ll introduce sports onto the site.”

Backed by private investors, Gow Media was born in 2007 with the acquisition of Houston’s 1560 AM. In 2010 it bought The Sporting News Radio network, which it rebranded as SB Nation Radio, and which supplies syndicated content to about 500 station affiliates nationwide. In 2012, Gow bought Houston’s ESPN radio 97.5 FM.

Gow’s relationship with CultureMap began in May 2016 when the two companies began collaborating to plan The Big Texas Party for Super Bowl weekend in Houston. Around midNovember, Gow said, the relationship got serious.

“We found that we were working together really well, and we found that the combination of our radio assets and their digital assets, of sports radio and lifestyle digital content made a really good match,” Gow said.

Gow bought CultureMap from ViewMarket, which had acquired the network for $15 million in 2015.