iHeart Blows Up Mid-Atlantic

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iHeart RadioVirginia hasn’t once again seceded from the union, but iHeartMedia’s radio stations in the Old Dominion are no longer part of a region that includes its Baltimore and Washington, DC properties.

As of today, the company’s Mid-Atlantic Region is no more.

The stations iHeart owns and operates in the Washington, DC and Baltimore markets will now form the new “Washington, DC Region.”

At the same time, iHeart’s stations in the Virginia markets of Harrisburg, Norfolk, Richmond, Roanoke-Lynchburg, and Winchester have been placed into a new “Virginia-Carolina Region” that includes the company’s stations in Asheville, Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh, NC and Greenville-Spartanburg, SC.

With the realignment, Sacramento-based SVP/Strategic Partnerships Michael Preacher becomes President of the Washington, DC Region and Government Initiatives, moving to the Nation’s Capital

Concurrently, Mid-Atlantic Region President Dave Carwile will now serve as President of the Virginia-Carolina Region.

Preacher and Carwile each report to Hartley Adkins, iHeartRadio President/Northeast Division and President of Corporate Operations for the iHeartMedia Markets Group.

Preacher is a 20-year media veteran who joined iHeartMedia in 2002, in his most recent role. He previously served as VP/GM of the XFL, the now-defunct pro football league owned and operated by the WWE and NBC Sports.

Carwile is a media and sales veteran who came on board as LSM of WJLM & WYYD in the Roanoke-Lynchburg market for iHeart predecessor Clear Channel Communications in October 1999.

“Michael has been instrumental in building iHeartMedia’s government initiatives division and his relocation to the nation’s capital will add significant value to our government business partners,” Adkins said. “Dave’s long history in Virginia and its adjacency to his current region of the Carolinas gives him the right experience to lead our efforts in those states.”

In related news, Gary Nolan has been named Program Director for  iHeart’s AC WMAG-FM 99.5 in Greensboro and will assume his new duties on Monday. Nolan previously worked as the PD for KCMO-AM & FM in Kansas City. He has also served as PD for KOSI-FM 101.1 in Denver and for KRMM-FM 106.9 in Seattle.

Meanwhile, iHeartMedia’s iHeartRadio digital music and live streaming radio service has surpassed 90 million registered users.

The company says its growth rate is faster than Facebook “or any other streaming music service,” having reached 80 million registered users just seven months ago.

The iHeartRadio app was launched in 2011.