I heard he went to bat for the formats and budgets when corporate wanted previous cuts.
Cumulus drops Chicago GM Michael Damsky
Cumulus co-COO John Dickey delivered the news personally, says Robert Feder in TimeOut Chicago. He reportedly told the GM of talk WLS-AM (890) and classic hits WLS-FM (94.7) that the company wanted to go in a new direction. Cumulus inherited Damsky along with last year's takeover of Citadel Broadcasting. Damsky had been at the cluster for 3-1/2 years, and was promoted by Citadel from head of sales to VP/GM in January 2010. He immediately made some lineup changes at WLS-AM. Damsky tells Feder "I'm extremely proud of what we were able to accomplish...when I took over as general manager, WLS was without direction. We brought in great talent and worked hard to showcase them. And WLS-FM withstood the attack of a serious competitor a year ago and is stronger now than ever before." WLS-FM is tied for fourth place in the February PPMs, having moved 3.8-4.1-4.5 with age 6+ AQH shares. Talk WLS-AM is tied for tenth, moving 3.5-4.0-3.8. Before joining the WLS combo in July 2008, Damsky had been associated with CBS Radio's WXRT (93.1), first in sales and later as GM.
Cumulus drops Chicago GM Michael Damsky
Cumulus co-COO John Dickey delivered the news personally, says Robert Feder in TimeOut Chicago. He reportedly told the GM of talk WLS-AM (890) and classic hits WLS-FM (94.7) that the company wanted to go in a new direction. Cumulus inherited Damsky along with last year's takeover of Citadel Broadcasting. Damsky had been at the cluster for 3-1/2 years, and was promoted by Citadel from head of sales to VP/GM in January 2010. He immediately made some lineup changes at WLS-AM. Damsky tells Feder "I'm extremely proud of what we were able to accomplish...when I took over as general manager, WLS was without direction. We brought in great talent and worked hard to showcase them. And WLS-FM withstood the attack of a serious competitor a year ago and is stronger now than ever before." WLS-FM is tied for fourth place in the February PPMs, having moved 3.8-4.1-4.5 with age 6+ AQH shares. Talk WLS-AM is tied for tenth, moving 3.5-4.0-3.8. Before joining the WLS combo in July 2008, Damsky had been associated with CBS Radio's WXRT (93.1), first in sales and later as GM.