Sweeping Cuts Ongoing at iHeartMedia

A massive reduction in workforce has been ongoing all week at iHeartMedia, affecting both radio station on-air talent and program directors.

Many of the names spanned multiple decades of experience in their respective markets.

“This will go down as the worst layoff round in radio history when all is done,” Lance Venta of RadioInsight, who has followed the industry closely since 1997, posted yesterday on Instagram.

Venta indicated the layoffs would be on par with or worse than previous notoriously harsh layoff rounds in 2009 and 2020.

The dozens of names revealed so far include large markets such as Denver, Houston, Miami and St. Louis, plus a bevy of medium- and small-market stations. 

Some of the longest-tenured programmers and hosts, reported by RadioInsight, include:

• BJ Holiday – 41-year on-air host at St. Louis’ KATZ(AM/FM).
• Pat Leuck & Dani Howe — 30-year morning hosts at WLLR(FM) in the Illinois/Iowa Quad Cities.
• Bret Saunders – 28-year on-air host at Denver’s KBCO(FM).
• Mike Miller — VP/Programming and afternoon host at Harrisburg, Pa.’s WRBT(FM), after 28 years with the company. 
• Bob Delmont — 27-year on-air host at Baltimore’s WPOC(FM). 
• Mike and Diane — Morning show at WAYV(FM) Atlantic City, N.J. Diane Mitchell had a 27 year-run at the station.
• Michael Blaze — PD/afternoons at WRFQ(FM) Charleston, S.C., after 27 years with the station.
• Madison Reeves – 25 years with iHeart, currently hosting afternoons at WDXB(FM) Pelham, Ala., WSSL(FM) Gray Court, S.C., and KTCZ(FM) Minneapolis.
• “The Freak Show” Morning Team – WBTT(FM) Ft. Myers, Fla., which had been together for 25 years. 
• Dan Holzman — WAEB(AM) in Allentown, Pa., after 25 years as morning co-host and news anchor.
• Doc Reno — Afternoon host at WBGG(FM) in Miami for 24 years. 
• Damian Rhodes — Afternoon host at WLAN(FM) in Lancaster, Pa., and he had a 24-year run at the station.
• Casey Bieber – 23 years with iHeart’s Anchorage, Alaska cluster, including as KGOT(FM)’s program director since 2013. 
• Jon Jeffries — He departs as executive producer for the iHeart Sports Radio Network, overseeing programming in 51 markets. Jeffries previously served as an anchor for Fox Sports Radio and Sporting News Radio and roles at stations in Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta and Phoenix.

“Reading between the lines and connecting the dots with recent moves, iHeart appears to be making the move to more centralized content at many of its stations,” Venta observed.

iHeart’s Iowa stations were particularly impacted. Chloe, a DJ at KKDM(FM) in Des Moines, shared with her audience on Instagram.

Multiple outlets reported that a memo was sent Tuesday to company employees by iHeartMedia Multiplatform Group CEO Ann Marie Licata and Chief Programming Officer Tom Poleman.

Licata and Poleman referenced iHeart’s “Guaranteed Human” pledge and its “dedication to creating new opportunities for our top personalities” while the company evolves how it programs its stations in an effort to give its sellers “faster and easier-to-use” information about its programming, talent and audiences.

“While we will be creating new roles to support our future needs, we also recognize that some colleagues and existing positions will be impacted as part of these changes,” the memo read.

It comes at a time when digital revenue, led by the iHeartRadio app and podcasts, is clearly the apple of company’s eye. And as Radio World reported last month, iHeartMedia announced an additional $50 million in annual cost savings — driven by technology and AI — which would begin rolling out in the second half of this year.

This comes on top of a previously projected $100 million in annualized savings, about $28 million of which was explicitly tied to “headcount” reductions.

Despite growing first-quarter revenue by 9.6% to $884 million and narrowing its net loss to $96 million, the company remains burdened by approximately $5 billion in debt, with interest costs alone expected to eat up $440 million this year.

We also had reported on the discussions between iHeartMedia and SiriusXM to merge and create a potential audio powerhouse. But those talks never moved past the preliminary stage and subsequently broke down in May.

Radio World reached out to an iHeartMedia spokesperson for further comment.

iHeartMedia operates approximately 860 U.S. AM and FM radio stations.

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