Chicago Radio: Greg Solk OUT At Hubbard

Greg Solk

Hubbard Radio and SVP/Programming Greg Solk have parted company.

The surprise move was confirmed Tuesday by Drew Horowitz, President/CEO of Hubbard Radio, who called it “a senior management decision to make a structural change.”   Horowitz said he and Ginny Morris, chair and CEO of Hubbard Radio, met with Chicago-based Solk earlier in the day to finalize his departure, which was effective immediately.

In June 2015, Hubbard Radio hired former iHeartMedia programmer Greg Strassel, giving him the same title and duties as Solk. At the time, Hubbard Radio claimed that Strassel would "work in partnership" with Solk for the foreseeable future.

Solk started his radio career in Chicago when he was just 15 years old. He began as an intern with WLUP-FM/The Loop in 1977. From there he became a producer for such mega-talents as Steve Dahl and Garry Meier. By the time Solk was 19, he was the Assistant Program Director, and when he was just 21 years old, he was named as WLUP-FM's Program Director.

In 1991, Solk moved to San Francisco to become Program Director of KFOG-FM, but returned back home to Chicago in 1993 to program WLUP-AM, which became WMVP-AM. When WLUP-FM and WMVP-AM were sold to Bonneville International in 1997, Solk was among the few that stayed with the stations. He quickly moved up the Bonneville corporate ladder.

With Bonneville, Solk became VP/Programming & Operations for the Chicago cluster, and in March 2010, named Senior Vice President of Programming for the entire company. In 2011, Hubbard Radio purchased seventeen radio stations from Bonneville, and also absorbed Bonneville's top management, including Solk.

Chicagoland Radio&Media reports, While Solk's programming duties were on a national level, he was well known for his micro-managing of the three Chicago stations. In fact, two of the Chicago stations have had a great deal of Program Director turnover in recent years, with many of the former Program Directors blaming their exits of programming disagreements with Solk and not being allowed to do their jobs. It was Solk's way or the highway. Solk was often accused of focusing much too much on the Chicago stations and not enough on a national level.

Solk issued the follwing statement:

As cliche as it sounds, I think I’m the luckiest guy ever in Chicago radio. I have had an amazing ride – especially the past 20 years with Bonneville and now Hubbard.These are two of the premier companies in broadcasting who treated me exceptionally and gave me incredible opportunities. 

I am so very proud of the product teams that I have had the pleasure to work with, most notably here in Chicago. The Mix, Drive and She staffs are the finest in the industry and I will certainly miss the rush of the daily interaction with them. 

As far as thanks, there are far too many people to mention, as it took an army to help me succeed, but I certainly want to thank my mentor these past few decades, Drew Horowitz, and three of my longest running partners in crime, production wizard Matt Bisbee, chief engineer Kent Lewin and assistant Fina Rodriguez, all who helped me more than they will ever know. 

I’m not quite sure what the future holds for me at this point, but the fire in my belly might be telling me I’m just not quite done yet . . .