Wendy Ellis
Cumulus Media announced that it appointed entertainment marketing professional Wendy Ellis to the position of director of marketing, strategic and creative partnerships for Cumulus Media Los Angeles. The company also announced that Cumulus Media’s WABC(AM)/77 WABC Radio appointed Noam Laden as news director for the New York City news talk station. In New Orleans, Cumulus appointed Rachel Adams and Kelwynn Napoleon as local sales managers.
Ellis started her music career in Minneapolis, launching KXXR(FM)/93X as marketing director, a position she held for 10 years. She headed west to Los Angeles in 2006, joining music management and production group The Firm as tour director and working in radio promotions. In 2009, she was named marketing director at Goldenvoice and has worked the last two years in Goldenvoice’s festival division.
Noam Laden
Dawn Girocco, vice president/market manager of Cumulus Media Los Angeles, said they are very excited to have Ellis on their team. “Her unique experience will help us grow both of these incredible brands and her understanding of talent, events and marketing partnerships will be invaluable to us and to our listeners, customers and partners.”
“I am ecstatic to be back in radio and to be a part of the emerging future for 95.5 KLOS and 790 KABC, two legendary L.A. stations,” said Ellis.
In New York, Cumulus Media’s WABC(AM)/77 WABC Radio announced that it appointed Noam Laden as news director for the city’s news-talk station. For nearly a decade, Laden has been the host of “The News Hour with Noam Laden” in New York City. Also, Laden writes and anchors the news for 77 WABC Radio between 10 and 12 p.m. He is a frequent analyst for Headline News.
“Noam Laden is a highly respected and seasoned news professional who will give our news coverage even greater dimension and focus in this critical election year and beyond,” said Chad López, vice president/market manager of Cumulus Media New York.
Born and raised in Trenton, N.J., Laden joined WABC after stops in South Carolina and at iHeartMedia’s WOR(AM) in New York City. He holds a B.S. degree in communications, broadcast journalism from Emerson College.
Rachel Adams
“Having Noam Laden leading our news operations as news director will raise our game substantially,” said Craig Schwalb, program director of 77 WABC Radio. “He will work to help us drive heightened excellence in our news coverage, with expanded digital news functions, weekend news enhancements, special in-depth reports and more.”
In New Orleans, media sales executives Rachel Adams and Kelwynn Napoleon are the new local sales managers, representing four radio stations reaching more than 334,600 fans each week.
This marks a promotion for Napoleon, who joined Cumulus New Orleans seven years ago as senior account executive, and has over 15 years of experience in radio sales. Adams joins Cumulus from Entercom New Orleans, where she was the national director of eCommerce and digital sales, leading sales across all integrated digital media channels, as well as eCommerce national sales for Entercom’s 130 stations in 27 U.S. markets.
Kelwynn Napoleon
Adams was formerly senior account manager for iHeartMedia San Diego’s news talk radio stations and served Entercom’s Portland, Ore., six-station cluster as director of digital sales. Adams also spent seven years as account executive, senior account executive and local sales manager for New Orleans-based NOLA.com, followed by three years in Portland as senior advertising account executive for NOLA.com’s sister site, Oregonlive.com. She started her career as a graphic designer and newspaper advertising sales representation with the Sun Herald in Gulfport, Miss. Born and raised in New Orleans, Adams earned a B.F.A. from the University of Southern Mississippi.
Napoleon became a certified radio marketing consultant in 2000, and received the Top Gun Award from the Radio Advertising Bureau. He has also been recognized as account executive of the month numerous times by Cumulus New Orleans and by Clear Channel/iHeartMedia New Orleans for his professional achievements, and was named account executive of the month a total of 21 times for On Top Communications, in addition to twice being honored as the company’s salesperson of the year. A native of New Orleans, Napoleon holds a B.S. degree in marketing from Louisiana State University.
