On Friday, Oct. 30, iHeartRadio noticed someone was diverting traffic from its websites to their own. It immediately fixed this and at no point did anyone gain access to iHeart websites, RBR+TVBR confirmed.
Unfortunately, that’s not the only news involving the nation’s No. 1 audio media company. A third round of layoffs has impacted multiple stations across the U.S., with many program directors being part of a new reduction in force effort just one week ahead of iHeart’s Q3 earnings report.
The latest round of job losses, while smaller than a January 2020 action that was widely reported across the radio industry’s trade publications, is nevertheless noteworthy. And, it follows the September conversion of furloughs into outright layoffs at iHeart.
According to RadioInsight.com, the following Program Directors have been dismissed:
- Brian Check, an 18-year iHeart/Philadelphia veteran who served as PD of WISX-FM “106.1 The Breeze” in Philadelphia.
- Trevor Morini, SVP/Programming and PD of WDCG-FM “G105” in Raleigh-Durham.
- Matt Johnson, PD of KSLZ-FM in St. Louis. Asst. PD/MD and morning host Jordan DiSocio has also departed the Top 40 station.
- Michael Rivera, KBQI-FM in Albuquerque and KHEY-FM in El Paso.
- Mike “McCabe” Kerr, WZFT-FM in Baltimore. He had been with the Top 40 station since January and also hosted afternoons.
- Mike McKay, WQRB-FM in Eau Claire, Wisc. He had been with the station since its 1991 launch and hosted mornings, while also hosting afternoons at WATQ-FM.
- Jimmy Elliott, VP/Programming and PD/morning host for WOVK-FM in Wheeling, W. Va. He was a 27-year veteran of the Country station.
AllAccess.com had additional names, including Mark Carbonaro, PD at News/Talk KION-AM in Monterey-Salinas; Mikie Dellinger, PD for KTMQ-FM and KMYT-FM in Temecula, Calif.; and numerous MD and/or air personalities. The AllAccess list includes Hunter Quinn, morning host at “Cities 97” in Minneapolis; Brooke Morrison, middays at Miami’s “Y-100” and afternoons at KSLZ; and Steve-O, the Executive Producer for the KDWB/Minneapolis wake-up program hosted by station veteran Dave Ryan.
No formal statement has been issued by iHeart regarding the latest reduction in force effort.
With minutes to go before the Closing Bell on Wall Street, IHRT on Tuesday was trading at $8.83, up 2.1% from Monday.
