A Memo From The Top Spells Out iHeartMedia’s Employee Plan

In an email distributed to all iHeartMedia staff, CEO Bob Pittman and COO/CFO Rich Bressler shared their thoughts and expectations about the new year coming up and how the company they lead — “the leader in audio – by a mile” — will highly likely be “an important growth year for us.”

Yet, the release of the memo came as a veteran Baltimore morning radio host shared on social media that her role has been greatly reduced due to ongoing reduction-in-force initiatives designed to trim iHeartMedia’s employee costs as it continues to resolve its outstanding debt issues.

In the memo, Pittman and Bressler discuss how iHeartMedia is “committed to being leaders and innovators,” citing the company’s outsized reach and how its 800-plus radio stations “continue to be a tremendous base for us to build from.”

They also reiterated comments made previously that iHeartMedia today has more radio listeners than it did in 2004; it is not known if this is on a same-station basis.

With a top podcast division that continues to grow audience, and profits, Pittman and Bressler commented, “That scale and connection also powers our ability to garner unique consumer insights needed by so many brands and marketers — positioning us as an important thought leader in consumer media.”

On that note, starting with FY 2025, eligible iHeartMedia employees will again benefit from a 401(k) matching program in which the company will deliver a 50% match on the first 5% of one’s salary contributed to a retirement account, up to $5,000. This had been suspended.

EMBRACING CHANGE

“We know that for us to continue to lead the audio industry, we must embrace — not shy away from — change,” Pittman and Bressler said. “Even though we are a well-established company, we need to be as nimble, flexible and innovative as a startup. One of our company values is urgency, and that means we need to be committed to acting faster than our competitors. Nimbleness plus scale is our secret sauce.”

Those comments came as 38-year WPOC-FM in Baltimore fixture Laurie DeYoung shared that her role will be reduced to weekends and select station appearances. The Country station currently clears the Premiere Networks-syndicated Bobby Bones Show in nights, to ensure it has market coverage. It was expected that iHeartMedia would move the syndicated entertainment-heavy Country show to mornings following DeYoung’s exit. On Wednesday morning, iHeart confirmed that is not happening. Rather, WPOC afternoon Michael J will now take on WPOC morning show duties, starting January 6, 2025. He will continue to also host the WMZQ-FM in Washington, D.C. midday show for the iHeartMedia-owned sibling down I-95.

Michael J will join current morning show member Bethany Linderman at WPOC; Jeff St. Pierre, also a morning show co-host, will become the host of the afternoon drive show at WPOC.

Juxtaposed against comments made by Pittman during the company’s most recent quarterly earnings call and additional commentary in the staff memo, it is clear that technology will be a key decisionmaker in terms of how many iHeartMedia stations will continue to air live and local air personalities across multiple dayparts.

“We are continually building a modern, more unified, cohesive and collaborative company, and using new technology is key,” Pittman and Bressler wrote. “What’s the benefit? Technology will allow us to speed up processes and streamline and update legacy systems so all our folks can create more, better, faster. Technology will allow us to flatten our organization, empowering our best performers and enabling more and clearer collaboration; it will allow our managers to broaden their span of responsibilities; decrease both bureaucracy and administrative work; and most importantly, it will enable us to break down silos, allowing every area and every person within iHeart to access the full breadth and depth of our size and scale for their benefit.”

Was DeYoung not one of iHeartMedia’s “best performers,” despite her longtime presence in the market? That’s what some in Baltimore and across the company may be wondering as the specter of voicetracking and Premiere-syndicated talent lurks over Christmas.

WPOC was once owned by Sinclair Inc. founder Julian Smith. It was acquired by Nationwide Communications in 1974 and enjoyed a highly successful 25-year run as one of the Mid-Atlantic Region’s biggest FM radio stations. In 1999, WPOC was acquired by iHeartMedia predecessor Clear Channel Communications as part of its purchase of Nationwide’s entire station portfolio.

BETTER BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS

What is the outcome of what Bressler and Pittman call iHeartMedia’s “modernization”? They note in the memo, “It will be easier to do business with us, and easier for us to get our business done.”

The two executives also share how the company has focused “on being more cost efficient, giving us additional financial firepower to drive innovation and new products — including our new and improved iHeartRadio app.”

A feature article on the new app appears in the RBR+TVBR Winter 2025, released January 6 at CES 2025 in Las Vegas.

Cost efficiency goes alongside “important steps with our capital structure to support our growth plans for 2025 and beyond,” Bressler and Pittman noted. To that end, they point to iHeartMedia’s recently announced refinancing, which they said is expected to reduce iHeartMedia’s overall debt, extend its debt maturities and keep the interest payments it makes “basically flat — exactly what we need to keep our momentum growing.”

Pittman and Bressler concluded the staff memo by saying 2025 “will be an exciting year for iHeart as we continue to build on our strong leadership position in audio. Thanks for all your contributions and your dedication — it is the key to our success.”