Report: Cherry Creek Radio CEO Joe Schwartz Resigns

Cherry Creek Radio president & CEO Joe Schwartz has resigned from the company he founded 12 years ago. A successor has not yet been named. Executive VP/CFO Kirk Warshaw is said to be running the small market radio company for now, with assistance from private equity firm Sankaty Advisors.

“The company now has some great financial backing and it’s time for me to move on and try some other things,” Schwartz told InsideRadio. “For 14 years, Cherry Creek has been my entire life and it’s no secret that the last 7-8 years have been tough…on the economy. It’s time for someone else to take the helm.”

Schwartz founded Cherry Creek Radio in February 2004, building its portfolio to 55 stations in Arizona, Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, Utah and Washington.

In July 2014, Sankaty Advisors bought Cherry Creek’s outstanding senior debt and equity from GE Capital and agreed to recapitalize the company in exchange for taking a minority stake. The $40 million recapitalization was the second piece of a puzzle that began earlier in 2014 when former debtholder Arlington Capital Partners gave Schwartz and Warshaw its equity position.