They are well-respected veterans in their field of radio programming. Now, Cumulus Media is rewarding them with new duties in Chicago and Minneapolis, respectively.
In the Windy City, James Kurdziel has been given the role of Program Director for Alternative WKQX “Q101.”
Cumulus is also expanding Kurdziel’s corporate programming leadership role, upping him from VP/Classic Rock to the newly created position of VP/Classic Rock and Alternative.
Kurdziel moves to Chicago from the PD chair of Cumulus’ Classic Rock KQRS-FM in Minneapolis. He took that job after holding similar duties at Cumulus’ Alternative WEDG-FM “103.3 The Edge” in Buffalo.
With Kurdziel’s move, Cumulus has appointed Wade Linder as Program Director for KQRS, but will continue to handle Special Projects for the Cumulus corporate programming team. Linder since 2018 has been PD of Classic Hits WLS-FM in Chicago. He took that post aftere serving for four years as the last PD of WLUP-FM. Prior to that, Linder spent nearly two decades programming Cumulus’ KXXR “93X” in Minneapolis.
Kurdziel and Linder report to Brian Philips, Chief Content Officer for Cumulus Media and Westwood One. He said, “In our careers, we may never again hit upon the perfect alignment of circumstances which made this deal possible. Chicago and Minneapolis-St. Paul have always generously shared people and ideas. We believe we’ve landed the ideal combination of star programmers to ensure the ongoing success of these stations.”
Marv Nyren, Vice President/Market Manager for Cumulus in Chicago, commented, “One of the benefits of having great talent throughout Cumulus is that when multi-market opportunities like this come up, we create a win-win-win situation. Having an experienced talent like James Kurdziel take over the reins of Q101 couldn’t happen at a better time and the entire staff in Chicago will benefit from his leadership and expertise. While WLS-FM will miss Wade’s knowledge and total professionalism, he gets to go back home and stay within the Cumulus family.”
Shelly Malecha Wilkes, Vice President/Market Manager for Cumulus in Minneapolis, added, “Congratulations to James Kurdziel. James has done an outstanding job in Minneapolis and, while we will miss his daily presence, this is a wonderful opportunity and we’re very happy for him. We’re also very excited to have Wade Linder back at Cumulus Minneapolis. Wade was an original architect of KQRS and KXXR. He’s a very strong Program Director and the right guy to lead the legendary KQRS. Welcome home, Wade!”
