With his creation of Merlin Media to acquire three big stations from Emmis, Randy Michaels also announced the first hires for the new company. Merlin Media has named Chicago radio veteran John Gehron (pictured) as Chairman, Advisory Board, and Liz Aiello, former SVP of Broadcast at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, as Vice President, New York.
“I was lucky enough to recruit John to run the Chicago cluster during my time at Clear Channel and I am thrilled to be working with him again now,” said Michaels. “At Merlin Media, we aren’t building a broadcast company, but a multimedia, multiplatform company. Liz has deep experience in radio, television, satellite, cable and interactive, and her intelligence and extensive contacts in New York will be the perfect addition to our new company. We are pleased to welcome them both, and the unique strengths they bring with them, to the Merlin Media team.”
Gehron will be responsible for building a strategic and robust relationship with key business partners in Chicago. Gehron has 40 years of experience as a pioneer and leader in the radio industry. Recently, Gehron formed Broadcast Wisdom, a radio consulting company, and became COO of AccuRadio, one of the leading Internet radio companies. Prior to that, he was Regional Vice President and Market Manager for Clear Channel, in addition to holding several other leadership positions at media and radio broadcasting firms in the Chicago area. [Editor’s note: The bio from Merlin left out Gehron’s time running Oprah Winfrey’s radio operation.]
Aiello joins Merlin Media after serving five years as Senior Vice President of Broadcast at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Aiello was recruited by the company to revise the Martha Stewart Living Radio station brand on Sirius Satellite Radio. She rebuilt the 24/7 channel with new talent, all-new programming and customized content for advertisers for a new level of branded entertainment. Previously, Aiello worked for legendary broadcaster, Howard Stern, and at WABC-TV as Managing Editor and Executive Producer.
