On Wednesday, January 29, the leadership of an audio content creation and distribution company founded as Entercom by Joseph Field and most recently led by his son, David Field, saw the naming of an interim President/CEO.
Now, Audacy Inc., has given her permanent executive leadership stripes as a series of other corporate-level moves has transpired at the company with majority ownership today held by Soros Fund Management. Many high-profile people have exited.
At the same time, Chris Oliviero — once associated with the former CBS Radio — and Bob Philips are earning promotions and will serve as close lieutenants to CEO Kelli Turner.
Oliviero takes the title of Chief Business Officer, culminating a turn of events for the onetime Executive Vice President of Programming at CBS Radio. On July 6, 2018, with the Reverse Morris Trust-fueled tax-free merger between CBS Radio and Entercom complete, he exited.
Then, in June 2020, Oliviero came back, taking the role as Market Manager for New York. In April 2022, he rose to Market President for the stations in the nation’s largest market at the company which had changed its name to Audacy. Now, he follows a path that had been previously paved by Susan Larkin, who has departed as Chief Operating Officer.
Larkin’s exit — one of many — is perhaps the most surprising for many market observers who had believed she was in a role of ascension following Audacy’s emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. She had succeeded the retiring Louise “Weezie” Kramer as COO in May 2020, rising from a role Oliviero is being elevated from. Prior to joining Entercom in 2017 for a regional role overseeing its Sacramento and San Francisco radio stations, Larkin served as Regional Vice President at Cox Media Group. Previous roles have included VP/GM at Cox Media Group in Orlando and General Sales Manager for ABC-Disney Radio in Minneapolis.
Oliviero began his career in radio in 1996, as an intern on The Howard Stern Show. He had been EVP/Programming at CBS Radio since his appointment to the role in 2013. For four years prior to that, he was SVP/Programming. After his NYU-era stint with Stern, Oliviero joined pioneering Sports Talker WFAN-AM 660 as a producer upon graduation in 1998. He was named Executive Producer for WNEW-FM 102.7 in 2000, during its Hot Talk period, and became part of CBS Radio’s corporate staff in 2004, following WNEW’s ill-fated format change to AC as “Blink.”
Concurrently, Philips is taking the position of Chief Revenue Officer. He’s also a veteran of the former CBS Radio, and joined that organization, rising to the role of Chief Revenue Officer. He would stay with Entercom following the merger as CRO, and in 2021 was named President of Audacy Networks and Multi-Market Sales.
Audacy Board Chairman Michael Del Nin confirmed the moves in a Monday announcement distributed by the company, while expressing support of Turner, who will lead Audacy “through its next phase of reinvention and growth.” Del Nin continued, “She is an exceptional media executive who, along with Oliviero and the rest of the Audacy team, will ensure we continue to invest in high-quality content to engage our audiences and provide best-in-class solutions to our partners.”
From October 2018 through September 2021, Turner served as President and Chief Operating Officer of SESAC, the music rights organization, rising from Executive VP/Operations and Corporate Development and the role of Chief Financial Officer. Turner was in that prior role from July 2014. Since March 2021, Turner has been a board member at digital advertising entity DoubleVerify and as a board member for Downtown Music Holdings. Past roles include serving as an investor relations VP for Time Warner (from 2004-2006) and, later, as its SVP of Operations, from 2007-2009.
“It’s a privilege to lead Audacy at this exciting moment in its impressive history and the evolution of audio,” Turner said. “This is one of the most dynamic businesses in media and entertainment, and I am looking forward to partnering with Chris Oliviero and all of our teams to build on our momentum with audiences, creators and advertisers. I’m especially excited by the appointments of Chris and Bob, who know Audacy’s businesses inside out and whose track records in management, programming and sales are second to none.”
While Turner will rely on Oliviero and Philips to lead the company, she will not have the services of Chief Digital Officer J.D. Crowley and Chief Marketing Officer Paul Suchman, who have departed the company.
Additionally, Executive Vice President/General Counsel Andrew Sutor is exiting, and will stay on for a transition period at Mike Dash rises from within Audacy to take the top legal role at the company.
Dash has been Executive Vice President of Administration and Compliance and Deputy General Counsel since 2006.
The exits of Crowley and Suchman are also as significant as the exit of Larkin and the end of Field family leadership at the one-time Entercom.
On LinkedIn, Crowley shared, “[A]fter eight incredible years building our digital and podcast businesses alongside so many talented Audacy teammates, it is time for me to move on to my next chapter. I’m immensely grateful to everyone who partnered with us and contributed to our successes along the way. I’ll have more to share about what’s next soon. For now, thank you to my incredible team — wishing you all continued success.”
A USC graduate, Crowley began his career in August 2003 as a producer and editor at CBS Stations’ KCAL-9 and KCBS-2 in Los Angeles. In early 2005, he’d join the Entertainment Tonight team, serving as a Senior Supervising Producer for just shy of six years.
In January 2011, he took a new role at CBS Television Distribution; in October 2016, after serving as Digital Media SVP/GM for the division, Crowley shifted to CBS Radio as Executive VP of Digital. Following the merger with Entercom, he took his most recent role, becoming an advocate and frequent industry voice for digital audio distribution and monetization.
Suchman began his tenure as CMO of Audacy in September 2019, following a year as “CMO in Residence” at advertising world giant WPP. He was also global CMO of CBRE, and from August 2006 through July 2013 served as EVP/Worldwide Director of BBDO Worldwide. He began his career as an Account Executive at Young & Rubicam in 1992, and from 2000-2006 was a Senior Partner and Executive Group Director at Ogilvy & Mather.
