Philly Radio: Beasley CEO "Won't Mess With Personalities"

CEO Caroline Beasley has assured Philly Radio Fans  that Beasley is not going to kick your favorite radio personalities to the curb, reports philly.com.

Some pundits and listeners anguished last week that Beasley Broadcasting Group’s announced purchase of four Philly stations from Greater Media could lead to more personnel cutbacks and maybe format changes at Rock WMMR 93.3FM, Classic Rock WMGK102.9 FM, Adult Hits WBEN 95.7 FM and Sports WPEN 97.5FM.

Caroline Beasley

But, according to philly.com, the driver of the $240 million Greater Media Inc. group acquisition (21 stations in all) says “these are iconic Philadelphia brands with wonderful talent and listeners with whom they have an emotional bond and connection. Why would we get rid of a Preston and Steve or a John DeBella?” (citing the morning show hosts on WMMR and WMGK, respectively). “That’s what we’re paying for. Why tear that apart?”

Combining operations of Beasley’s two current Philly properties WTEL 610 AM and WWDB 860 AM with the new four could lead to other “synergies in the market,” she said. ”I don’t know now. I haven’t hadn’t a chance to go in and look at that.”

Clearly, these are challenging times for broadcasters, noted the 53-year-old Beasley, longtime chief financial officer of the Naples, Florida-based, publically traded radio group and since March its Interim CEO as her 84-year-old dad and company founder George G. Beasley recovers from a kidney transplant.

“It’s a much more competitive business than it was 10 or 20 years ago. Our listeners have many more options, though more than 90 percent of the population still tunes in to radio” (at least once) “every week.” Beasley cited. “We know we have to adopt and change to the needs of our listeners and advertisers. Now we’re over the air, on line and on mobile apps. We’re not just selling spots, we want to be marketing consultants to our advertisers, to help them make their business grow.”

The Beasley-Greater Media deal is expected to close 4Q 2016 after regulatory approvals.