News

Rahul Sabnis has been promoted to Chief Creative Officer & Executive Vice President for the newly-branded in-house creative group TheStudio at iHeartMedia.

A big part of that drop -- between $500K to $800K -- was blamed on a ransomware attack that affected the entire company, according to CFO Peter Thompson. It cost the company another $500,000 on the expense line to get the issue fixed. The company did not pay ransom to anyone to resolve the matter. Here's what happened.

The company reported pro forma revenue for December, January and February was down 4% in markets that were up 3%. For the full year pro forma radio revenue was down 2% in markets that were down 1%.

Who knew hanging up on a boring guest was big news these days? Beasley's Toucher & Rich in Boston are getting national attention after Fred Toucher decided he had enough of Chip Alexander's southern accent.

Shosh Abromovich is the new Market President for iHeart's Toledo market, which has seven stations. Abromovich is promoted from SVP in Toledo. She's also been an AE, LSM, and GSM for iHeart in Detroit.

Heidi Raphael, who joined Beasley Media Group in May, 2017, has been promoted to the position of Chief Communications Officer. Raphael has been a perennial on Radio Ink’s Most Influential Women in Radio list since 2006.

Way up north in Alaska, Market Manager Scott Smith — who was the Master of Ceremonies at the 2019 Alaskans for Litter Prevention and Recycling Awards — accepted the Board of Directors Award on behalf of Alpha Media.

Chelsey Waddell has been named Director of Marketing and Promotions for iHeartMedia Raleigh, NC. The Raleigh market’s brands and franchises – both broadcast and digital – include G105, 100.7 WRDU, B93.9, 106.1 FM Talk, and ALT 95.3.

CEO Mary Berner said national, spot, and Westwood One were all strong in the first quarter of 2019, which obviously means local revenue continues to be the weak link for Cumulus.

The FCC has adopted a Report and Order that it says will streamline and improve FM translator interference complaints. The problem ballooned ever since the FCC started handing out FM translators to anyone who pulled up to the Commission's drive-through window.