People in the News

SiriusXM says it has hired Suzi Watford to serve as the company's newest senior vice president in the role of chief growth officer. Watford will be in charge of driving SiriusXM's enterprise-level growth strategy; she will report to Joe Verbrugge, SiriusXM's chief commercial officer.

Renée Castle is joining Cumulus Memphis country station WGXK (105.9 FM, Kix 106) and its morning show, Mornings with Latty. Castle was previously the evening on-air host at Beasley's WKLB (102.5 FM) in Boston.

Cumulus Media is moving some talent around at a pair of its Tucson radio stations. Bobbi Pereyda will move from mid-days on KSZR (97.5 FM, The Vibe) to the mid-day slot at sister-station KIIM (95.5 FM). Krystal Pino will move from the mid-day slot at KIIM to the mid-day slot at KSZR.

Robby Bridges has been promoted from Director of Programming to VP of Programming for WWZY-FM and WBHX-FM in New Jersey. The stations are owned by Press Communications.

Suzanne Carroll has been named the General Sales Manager at Beasley Media Group's 5-station Charlotte cluster. Carroll joins Beasley from Audacy Corporate, where she worked on the sales acceleration team.

Bruce Avery, the former general manager of Hofstra University's WRHU (88.7 FM) in Hempsted, New York, died Saturday at the age of 69 after a lengthy illness. Avery retired in August 2022 after spending 28 years as the general manager of WRHU.

Timothy Gerard Girton, an on-air host and program director for two Louisville stations, died last Monday at the age of 58. Girton worked as an on-air host for WMJM (101.3 FM, Magic) and WGZB (96.5 FM).

Audacy's Boston sports station WEEI (93.7 FM) has hired Adam Jones to serve as a co-host during the afternoon drive block with Meghan Ottolini and Christian Arcand. As part of the new talent line-up, Jones & Mego will debut January 30 with the new afternoon team.

iHeartMedia has appointed Tracy Bethea as program director of WDIA (1070 AM), its urban oldies and classic soul station in Memphis. She reports to Sue “Bis Sue” Purnell, the senior vice president of programming at iHeart's mid-South area.

iHeartMedia says its Denver-based world-class rock station KBCO (97.3 FM) has hired Robbyn Hart to host mid-days, starting Monday. Hart will host the midday show from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays, and will report to program director Scott Arbough.