There are changes at Cumulus as Mary Berner apparently continues to make moves to revamp the company’s structure. Cumulus announced a number of appointments. But it also confirmed that at least one key executive has left.
Cumulus Senior Vice President of Operations Tom Schurr is no longer with the company, a representative confirmed. It is currently unclear whether Schurr chose to voluntarily leave his position or was forced out. He will not be replaced.
Reports of Schurr’s departure appeared in several trade media reports.
Schurr had been in that position since March 2015. According to his LinkedIn profile, he began his career in 1983 with Taft Broadcasting in Cincinnati. He also served as president of operations for Clear Channel, now known as iHeartMedia.
Meanwhile, Cumulus separately issued several staff announcements today.
This change was revealed in addition to several new announcements and promotions at the company as part of another organizational restructuring.
“Who knows their markets better than the people who live and work there? We believe that the injection of more local insight and more effective corporate support into our programming decisions will drive improved ratings outcomes for our stations,” said CEO Mary Berner in a press release. “Consistent with this view, Cumulus program directors will now report to market managers and will have control over the day-to-day programming of their stations which has not been the case in the past. Our corporate programming team, with its specialized resources and expertise, will be led by Mike McVay.”
Joining the new support team are Dr. Ed Cohen, VP of ratings and research; Doug Hamand, VP of programming operations; Cat Thomas, VP of CHR and hot AC; Ralph Cipolla, VP of analytics; and Ken Johnson, VP of urban.
Cohen joins Cumulus from Nielsen Audio, where he led Nielsen’s connected car streaming audio research initiative as VP of measurement innovation. Cohen was previously VP of measurement innovation for Arbitron, following five years as VP of research policy and communication and eight years as VP of domestic radio research for Arbitron. Prior to that, Cohen was VP of research for Clear Channel and held research positions for the National Association of Broadcasters and Birch/Scarborough Research.
Hamand joins Cumulus from iHeart Media, where he was SVP of programming and served iHeartMedia/Clear Channel in various senior programming posts, including regional vice president of programming, Tampa/St. Petersburg, Fla., for over 21 years.
Thomas joins Cumulus following a 27-year career with CBS Radio, where he was VP of programming for CBS Las Vegas’ six-station group. Thomas served as PD of KLUC(FM) Las Vegas for 20 years, following seven years on-air and as music director at KLUC.
Cipolla joins Cumulus from performance analytics consultancy Cipolla Analytics, following a decade as a multi-platform strategy, branding, research and talent consultant at Jacobs Media and jacapps Mobile. He also worked as an operations manager and PD for 15 years, serving stations in Detroit, Jacksonville, Fla., and Buffalo, N.Y.
Johnson joins the Cumulus corporate programming support team from WUHT(FM) in Birmingham, Ala., where he serves as operations manager. He was also PD for the Touch Urban AC format for Westwood One. He has a 20-year programming career that includes 13 years as a programmer and consultant to Cumulus Media, and programming posts in Boston, Washington, New York, Philadelphia, Dallas, Atlanta and Wilmington, N.C.
Cumulus also promoted:
● Val Garris, former VP of programming, to VP of analytics
● Greg Frey, former corporate PD, to VP of programming operations
● Aaron Roberts, former VP of programming partnerships, to VP of programming communications/partnerships
● Emily Boldon, former VP of Stratus Music Programming and corporate PD, to VP of AC
● Troy Hanson, former corporate PD of rock formats, to VP of rock
● Brian Thomas, former corporate PD of country and classic hits, to VP of classic hits
● Charlie Cook, former operations manager of Cumulus Nashville, to VP of country
● Bill Hess, former corporate PD, news/talk, to VP of news/talk
● Scott Jameson, former corporate PD, classic rock, to VP of classic rock
● Bruce Gilbert is still SVP of sports for both Cumulus Media and Westwood One
● John Kilgo continues as VP of label relations
