CBS Radio Lay-Offs Continue

UPDATE Thursday 6am:  Additional dismissals have become known:

L-A: Freddy Snakeskin is out as PD/on-air at “ROQ Of The 80’s” KROQ-HD2 and “Jack Of All Trades” at “93.1 Jack-FM” KCBS-FM.

Philly:  Night jock Bob Charger exits Classic WOGL after 19 years. Previoualy, he worked Top 40s WFIL and WIBG.


Earlier Posting...

The current round of massive lay-offs at CBS Radio were not confined to Monday when it was widely reported that some 200 employees were being dismissed.

Bad news was continued to be delivered Tuesday.

On Tuesday, Jeremy Larson, editor of CBS' Radio.com, reported the "majority" of  the editorial staff was laid off.  Larson added radio.com will increase its use of "aggregated content."

Other names circulated as being dismissed are:

• Senior VP/Sales Sue McNamara is out after 7 1/2 years in New York
• Byron “Ron” Harrell, the Director of Music Programming for CBS Dallas and Program Director at Classic Hits 98.7 KLUV and Variety Hits “100.3 Jack-FM” KJKK since September 2012
• Kurt Wolff, who had been a digital producer and content specialist for CBS Radio Chicago since January 2012. 
• Katie Woodson, the Newsroom Executive Assistant for WBBM-AM/Newsradio 780 & 105.9.

Reports put the number of lay-offs in Detroit at 13-16.  Dismissals Monday include:

• WWJ 950 AM technology reporter Ed Cardenas
• Overnight producer Gary Lundy
• Overnight anchor Rob Sanford (Overnight news will now be recorded)
• On-air talents Jayne Bower and Greg Bowman, who co-anchored afternoons
• Paul Snider, anchor 7 p.m.-midnights
• At least two WWJ account executives and several AMP 97 sales reps

The layoffs at the third biggest radio operator are part of a steady trickle of cuts across the radio industry:

• Last August, Walt Disney Co. announced its intention to sell off nearly all its broadcast radio stations and move its audio content distribution to digital platforms. The move included around 200 layoffs.
• Also last year, Clear Channel (now iHeartMedia) cut 300 sales employees, while Univision Communications laid off dozens of employees at radio stations across the U.S. as part of an initiative to consolidate programming responsibilities.

According to Mediapost, last year the U.S. broadcast radio industry employed 91,120 people, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s down about 19% from 112,080 people in 2002. Total radio industry revenues sank from $21.3 billion in 2007 to $17.5 billion in 2014, for an 18% decline over this period.