LA Radio: CCM+E Moves Bill Denton To AM Station Sales

Last week, Clear Channel corporate mandated a reduction in the sales force. A couple of sources indicated that 300 employees were laid off, including six sales people in the Los Angeles cluster.

Bill Denton

According to LA Radio, the biggest story in Los Angeles involves Bill Denton. He’s generally accepted as one of the most well-liked radio executives with the ad agency world, which also includes being recognized as a top-notch salesman who extracts a large percentage of the ad buys. When he was in charge of sales at KROQ, he was known for working miracles.

Last year Clear Channel lured Bill from CBS to be general sales manager at KIIS and KYSR. Among all of the recent changes, the big surprise to many was Denton being reassigned as the new general sales manager for the CC/LA AM stations: KFI, KEIB, and KLAC. Many feel that CC made the change asking Bill to work his magic on KFI, a station that has seen revenues decline.

Agencies refused to buy spots on previous ratings leader Rush Limbaugh’s program, purportedly due to the storm over the Sandra Fluke incident and other controversies.

“We are always looking for ways to improve,” emailed Greg Ashlock.

“The fact is that we need as much focus as possible on KFI and with the large number of sales people that we have on our talk products, we needed to have a lower sales manager to account executive ratio. Bill Denton is a huge consumer of talk radio, is wildly passionate about the platform and is experienced in the intricacies of direct response dating back to his days with Newmark.”

“Darren McMillan has done a phenomenal job leading our efforts on the AM’s and will continue to play a critical role. This move wouldn’t have happened if he didn’t wholeheartedly embrace the opportunity for more help,” continued Ashlock. “David Howard’s position remains the same.”