iHeart Restructures - Departures

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

https://www.kfyrtv.com/content/news...-media-layoffs-in-North-Dakota-567061891.html

MINOT, N.D. – A trio of longtime radio personalities in Minot and Bismarck are among a slew of nationwide layoffs of talent for iHeart media, as the company endeavors in a major restructuring.

Scott Kittell, a longtime sports radio announcer who covered various sporting events across North Central North Dakota, announced on Facebook this week he was let go.

Meanwhile, morning radio announcer Bromo Abromowitz made a similar announcement on Facebook.

"Wild" Bill Hickok, a morning radio announcer in Bismarck, was also laid off. Three other off-air employees in Bismarck were also let go.

KFYR-TV has confirmed that Iheart has removed some staff members from North Dakota.


https://kfoxtv.com/news/local/utep-professor-weighs-in-on-layoffs-at-power-102

the fallout of the Iheart cuts in El Paso

EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14) — Several longtime employees at radio station Power 102 were told earlier this week that they were being laid off.

The director of UTEP’s radio said the station’s company, iHeart Media, is probably cutting back due to issues with money.

“Whoever let them go didn’t know what they meant to this market, how popular they are to this market, how they helped this market heal after August 3,” said Dee Woo, operations director of KTEP.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

https://businessjournaldaily.com/lo...ports-show-cut-in-iheart-media-restructuring/

Fast Freddie has been removed from Iheart's Ohio Outlets due to the Iheart layoffs

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Longtime Youngstown radio host Fred “Fast Freddie” Woak has been let go from his position as afternoon host of WNCD 93.3-FM (“The Wolf”), the result of a nationwide downsizing of staff by iHeart Media, owner of the station.

In a Friday Facebook post, Woak — who has worked for the station since 1988 — wrote, “due to recent restructuring, I am sad to say that I will no longer be rocking the airwaves in Youngstown. It was an awesome ride but everything must come to an end… As radio heads in a new direction, I am not sure what the future holds.…I will still be out doing gigs around town so I will still see you at places like Tangier and The Ice House.”

On Jan. 14, iHeart Media announced a restructuring that would increase its use of technology and artificial intelligence, and would result in job cuts in all of its markets.

https://www.mysanantonio.com/busine...io-layoffs-affect-Capital-Region-14975328.php


https://www.wfmj.com/story/41579906/iheart-radio-reorganization-cuts-local-jobs

Here is the ROundup of Iheart cuts.

 

[Kent]

From listening to Cumulus stations. It sounds like local PD's have some say in adds now.

They do now, though they didn’t have that level of input when the Dickeys ran the place. Some brand managers at Cumulus may have been more lenient than others, but you generally did what your corporate brand manager told you to do when I worked there. Local PD's were supposed to have been able to add different songs by going up to the brand manager, but it never happened at the station where I worked. In all fairness, I jumped after 4 months, but, from what I heard from those who remained, it didn’t happen at the AC or CHR in the cluster. The rock stations might have had better luck, though.

 

[Kent]

I was told this was also the case at Townsquare, as of several months ago.

When it was known as Regent, Townsquare tried scheduling music and commercial traffic out of corporate in at least a few test markets from what I heard. I understood there was also a directive that programming and on-air people help with the sales. I don’t remember how long it lasted, but the blowback was tremendous.

Funny how every old idea becomes new again, isn’t it?

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-lifestyle/cities-97-1-kdwb-hosts-among-those-cut-by-iheartmedia

Iheart has removed people from their Minnesota outlets due to the national cuts.

It's still unclear how many people in the Minneapolis market were let go. Radio Insight and All Access have been keeping track of on-air personalities that lost jobs, and they so far include:

Mollie Kendrick, co-host of the Cities 97.1 morning show
Brent Barkley, producer of the Cities 97.1 morning show
Dan Foss, weekends at 101.3 KDWB
Sue Jeffers, weekend host for 1130 KTLK
Levi Jessen, assistant program director at K102
"I don't know what's next, but please keep in touch," Kendrick wrote in a Facebook post in which she thanked iHeartMedia and Cities 97.1 for the opportunity to "conquer" her dream of working in the market.

https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis...dia-cuts-include-klou-on-air-personality.html


Also Iheart has removed people from St. Louis

A restructuring at radio giant iHeartMedia has led to reports of dozens of layoffs at stations across the country, including at least three in St. Louis.

Among the cuts is Vic Porcelli, a midday on-air personality for classic hits station KLOU (103.3 FM), who confirmed his departure in a post on Facebook. He had been with KLOU since 2016.

New York-based iHeart (NASDAQ: IHRT), which operates more than 850 radio stations nationwide, on Wednesday announced a corporate restructuring in which it will group markets "by common needs and characteristics" into three divisions in an effort to "make sharing of resources and experiences easier and more targeted."

The corporate announcement didn't discuss layoffs, but reports across the country indicate dozens of employees were let go. Bilboard quoted a source describing it as "a bloodbath."

The website RadioInsight.com detailed specific layoffs by market and identified three in St. Louis, including Porcelli. Another, Maurice DeVoe, a program manager of hip-hop at KATZ (100.3 FM), also confirmed his departure on Facebook.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/183270/ongoing-list-of-those-affected-by-iheartmedia-cuts/

Update RadioInsight now confirms that two staff members have been removed from Iheart San Francisco outlet.

San Francisco
Morris Knight departs as evening host at 80s Hits “103.7 iHeart 80s” KOSF.

Julian ‘On The Radio’ Nieh exits weekends/fill-in at Rhythmic CHR “Wild 94.9” KYLD.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/morris-knight-b133b06

Also in this profile Morris Knight confirms that Iheart has removed him due to the cuts

Experience
KOFY TV
TV Personality
KOFY TV
Sep 2008 – Present11 years 5 months

KOFY-TV, San Francisco

Host of Dance Party and Co-Host of Wildlife Wednesday segments.
Host of Dance Party and Co-Host of Wildlife Wednesday segments.

iHeartMedia
Afternoon Drive On-Air Personlity
iHeartMedia
Apr 2016 – Jan 20203 years 10 months

San Francisco, California

Afternoon Drive Personality
Afternoon Drive Personality

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

https://www.wdrb.com/news/wdrb-vide...deo_cd60807f-39b8-50a8-a343-0fc3ca29574f.html

Here is more on the Louisville cuts at Iheart.

 

[kf4rca]

I bet Bob Pittman is still making 6 figures.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

https://www.ajc.com/blog/radiotvtal...lt-105-terry-the-beat/LYOBYeYJEmgrwkRAac3X4H/

https://www.dailynews.com/2020/01/2...n-isnt-alone-hundreds-more-losing-radio-jobs/

Here are Iheart fallouts in Los Angeles and Atlanta.

 

[boombox4]

https://www.ajc.com/blog/radiotvtal...lt-105-terry-the-beat/LYOBYeYJEmgrwkRAac3X4H/

https://www.dailynews.com/2020/01/2...n-isnt-alone-hundreds-more-losing-radio-jobs/

Here are Iheart fallouts in Los Angeles and Atlanta.

The LA news article was interesting. I think his assessment of the state of radio conflicts with many opinions one finds by the experts here on RD, however.

He does state that he thinks other radio giants like Cumulus and Entercom may follow suit. I suppose that remains to be seen.

 

[TheBigA]

I think his assessment of the state of radio conflicts with many opinions one finds by the experts here on RD, however.

No surprise....people in the print press tend to have a different view of things. That's OK.

Meanwhile their industry has gone through the exact same cost-cutting for the same reasons. Reasons the writer is unwilling to admit.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

No surprise....people in the print press tend to have a different view of things. That's OK.

Meanwhile their industry has gone through the exact same cost-cutting for the same reasons. Reasons the writer is unwilling to admit.

Also TV has been going through cuts too but these are related to recent mergers though such as the Disney/20 th Century Fox deal of 2019 people were being removed as part of a ploy to put 20th Century Fox as a part of Disney+, ABC Studios and Hulu. CBS did cuts as a result of the Viacom deal. Nexstar did some changes due to the Tribune deal.

Iheart prior to these recent cuts were putting a huge promotion campaign on their O&O's saying to check their podcasts out. Iheart must have data indicating that the money demos are going to their podcasts section of the app though.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

https://wqad.com/2020/01/22/off-the...jim-albracht-talks-life-after-iheart-layoffs/

Former Iheart talent talks about the layoffs

Jim Albracht has been around the Quad Cities airwaves for decades.

At the start of his career he was a sportscaster right here at WQAD News 8. Following that, he moved on to host a radio show at WOC for nearly 10 years before being pulled off in a round of iHeart Media layoffs. This happened several years ago. Then, citing a restructuring plan, iHeart lets go of DJs across the country in another round of layoffs.

It’s been a long ride,” explains Albracht in the “Off the Air” podcast.

Albracht sat down with Good Morning Quad Cities host Jonathan Ketz to talk about his roller coaster ride in broadcasting and what he thinks to future holds for others in the industry.

“The future of radio is wobbly, man,” said Albracht. “It’s just wobbly for a lot of different reasons and not because it’s iHeart. Radio has to be local it just has to be. There’s too many things now, if I can get on the internet and tweet it, I don’t need (the radio). I need to know what’s going on in my town.”

 

[boombox4]

No surprise....people in the print press tend to have a different view of things. That's OK.

Meanwhile their industry has gone through the exact same cost-cutting for the same reasons. Reasons the writer is unwilling to admit.

Their industry is shrinking in readership, though. I am not sure that applies to radio, whose numbers (ratings), from what I understand, haven't decreased by the same amount.

 

[davideduardo]

Their industry is shrinking in readership, though. I am not sure that applies to radio, whose numbers (ratings), from what I understand, haven't decreased by the same amount.

There are two measures of radio:

First is cumulative audience. The "cume" of radio used to be around 95%, and now it is 89% to 90%. That decrease has happened slowly over the last dozen years or so.

Second is average audience levels, the number of people actually listening at any given time during the day.

In a typical market, that listening level is now around 7%. It used to be around 18% or even more. So in a given moment, only about 40% as many people are listening as there were 12 years ago.

 

[CTListener]

There are two measures of radio:

First is cumulative audience. The "cume" of radio used to be around 95%, and now it is 89% to 90%. That decrease has happened slowly over the last dozen years or so.

Second is average audience levels, the number of people actually listening at any given time during the day.

In a typical market, that listening level is now around 7%. It used to be around 18% or even more. So in a given moment, only about 40% as many people are listening as there were 12 years ago.

How do the industries compare where it counts -- advertising revenue? I saw a story recently that predicted a further 8% drop in print (newspaper and magazine) ad revenue this year. How is radio doing?

 

[umfan]

I bet Bob Pittman is still making 6 figures.

More like seven figures.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/everybody-revolt-one-radio-station-163333361.html


In this case a mini rebellion by a couple of iHeart hosts in Des Moines appears to have reversed some of the layoffs, at least for now. Not something likely to be repeated.

 

[gr8oldies]

I'm not aware of any reversals other than Des Moines

More like seven figures.

[






url]https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/everybody-revolt-one-radio-station-163333361.html[/url]


In this case a mini rebellion by a couple of iHeart hosts in Des Moines appears to have reversed some of the layoffs, at least for now. Not something likely to be repeated.

 

[boombox4]

There are two measures of radio:

First is cumulative audience. The "cume" of radio used to be around 95%, and now it is 89% to 90%. That decrease has happened slowly over the last dozen years or so.

Second is average audience levels, the number of people actually listening at any given time during the day.

In a typical market, that listening level is now around 7%. It used to be around 18% or even more. So in a given moment, only about 40% as many people are listening as there were 12 years ago.

That explains a few things, then. The trend is a bit worse than I suspected. If radio's average audience levels have dropped 60% since 2008, that's not good.

 

[b-turner]

The way I read David's two measures of radio is 89% listen but the time spent listening is roughly 60% less. That would mean radio's reach has dropped from about 95% to 89% to 90% but to reach all of these folks, you will need more commercial units to have the same impact as a dozen years ago, in theory 60% more. I gather that listening sessions are shorter, leading to the 7% today.