Philly Radio: Beasley Names New Market Head

Joe Bell has been replaced as Philadelphia market manager of Beasley Media Group by longtime sales executive Paul Blake.

The Philadelphia Business Journal reports a spokeswoman for Beasley would only say that Bell is no longer with the company. Bell could not be immediately reached for comment.

In his new role, Blake will report directly to Beasley Media President Bruce Beasley and oversee the company’s Philadelphia-based radio properties — rock station 93.3 WMMR-FM, classic rock station 102.9 WMGK-FM, sports talker 97.5 The Fanatic (WPEN-FM), pop station 95.7 BEN FM, country station 92.5 XTU (WXTU-FM) and Talk 860 (WWDB-FM). The entire cluster of stations is situated in Bala Cynwyd. He will also oversee Camden-based religious programming station WTMR 800-AM.

Naples, Florida-based Beasley owns 57 radio stations across the U.S.

Paul Blake

Blake has been with Beasley and predecessor Greater Media in Philadelphia since 2002. He had served as vice president and director of sales for the Philadelphia cluster since Beasley acquired Greater Media in 2016. He held a similar role when the cluster of stations was owned by Greater Media between 2006 and 2016 and was sales manager at WMMR for three years before that.

Prior to his time at Beasley/Greater Media, Blake was a sales professional for Clear Channel and Global Television Sports (1991-94). He earned an undergraduate degree in marketing from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania (1989).

“I am deeply honored and thrilled to take on the role of Cluster Manager for Beasley Media Philadelphia,” said Blake. “I extend my heartfelt gratitude to the Beasley family for their unwavering trust and confidence in me. It is an incredible privilege to lead one of America’s premier groups of radio stations and digital content creators, and I look forward to continuing our tradition of excellence and innovation in the media industry.”

“Paul is the perfect person to take our Philly-based radio cluster to the next level,” said Beasley Media Group President Bruce Beasley. “His longstanding dedication, insight and leadership is the perfect fit to lead our team into the future. We are thrilled to have him on our team.”

Bell had led Beasley’s Philadelphia cluster since 2016, dealing with the changing business landscape of radio as it lost market share to podcasting and other digital entertainment channels. The increased competition caused a decline in advertising revenue industry-wide and with that, a series of layoffs and other cost-cutting measures. Most recently, Beasley laid off 7% of its workforce in May, including two on-air personalities at The Fanatic.

Bell faced numerous personnel decisions during his tenure including the departure of Fanatic afternoon drive host Mike Missanelli, the retirement of WMGK morning show host John DeBella, and re-signing WMMR morning show ratings kingpins Preston & Steve and venerable disc jockey Pierre Robert.

He also named several new station managers and helped negotiate new broadcasting rights contracts with the Flyers and 76ers.