Cumulus Media is working through a fresh round of layoffs across both sales and programming as the company awaits its formal exit from bankruptcy. The cuts are touching stations in multiple markets, as the company’s restructuring effort continues to unfold.
In Washington, DC, RJ Lane tells Radio Ink he is out after 15 years with the company, including as Director of Sales and General Sales Manager, before moving into a seller role for the market. In Columbia, SC; Mobile, AL; and Shreveport, LA, Cumulus has parted ways with programmers Leo Baldwin, Cami Marlowe, and Anthony “Big Ant” Simmons, respectively.
Cumulus filed prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March, and a federal judge approved the company’s reorganization plan in April. The company is now waiting on FCC approval to formally emerge, a process that would give Alden Global Capital President Heath Freeman a roughly 32% voting interest in the reorganized company, as Radio Ink reported in July. Freeman is notorious in the US newspaper industry for his aggressive RIFs at acquired properties.
Cumulus isn’t alone in trimming its ranks. iHeartMedia cut staff across dozens of markets this summer as part of a $150 million cost-savings push, among other major groups making layoffs of their own in recent months. The pattern has drawn unfavorable attention in the regulatory sector, with some critics of the FCC loosening ownership caps for radio arguing that consolidation has left local media outlets hollowed out by cost-cutting and eroding ad revenue.
