CEO Mary Berner: No Plans For Bankruptcy

Berner On The Big Screen

On Day 1 new Cumulus CEO Mary Berner said  the embattled broadcaster will rely less on top-down management and more on letting managers do the jobs they were hired for. Berner addressed employees in a companywide webcast from the Grand Hyatt in Atlanta.

Berner told employees:

• Cumulus wasn’t planning to blow up the NASH country brand
• Cumulus was not planning to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
• Identified two top priorities changing the Cumulus corporate culture and improving how it operates

Berner said the company’s top-down management style has slowed it down and hurt its performance.

"Programming is the oxygen of Cumulus."- Mary Berner CEO Cumulus Media/Westwood One

— Cumulus Media (@CumulusMedia) October 13, 2015

“Programming is the oxygen of Cumulus,” Berner said during her 20-minute talk.  She added that Cumulus had too much employee turnover (48% of Cumulus’ employees have turned over in the past 18 months) and she candidly shared such verbatim employee survey comments as, “I love my job, not my company.”

Her closing charge: “The turnaround at Cumulus starts today. Do your job and do it well.”