There are a few plum programming jobs at CBS Radio. Steve Swenson occupies one of them; now he is leaving it to take on another.
CBS named Steve Swenson to head its cluster in the nation’s capital. He’ll become senior vice president and market manager in Washington, running five stations: hot AC station WIAD(FM), sports outlet WJFK(FM), Spanish-formatted WLZL(FM), urban WPGC(FM) and news/talker WHFS(AM).
Swenson replaces Sam Rogers, whom CBS said decided to resign and was leaving as “a friend of the company.”
He comes from a job overseeing the two all-news stations in New York, WCBS(AM) and WINS(AM). For 13 years Swenson has been VP and GM of big-billing, highly-rated WCBS. He added WINS to his portfolio three years ago; before that he was its news director and executive editor/PD for a decade.
The announcement was made by CBS Radio President/CEO Dan Mason. Mason described his background in New York, Los Angeles and Washington as “incredible” and an “extraordinary career.”
This is a return to Washington for Swenson; for a couple of years in the late 1990s he was president/GM of WTOP(AM). Now as head of the CBS Washington operation he’ll be competing for ad dollars with the big WTOP operation.
