Albany NY Radio: Bob Pittman...We Don't Need Local Talent

Some of the top talent at iHeartMedia's local radio stations, including WGY, are out of their on-air jobs after the company announced it planned $200 million in cost reductions across its properties.

The Times-Union reports those who are out include Doug Goudie, host of WGY's morning show, as well as Jeff Levack and Tom "Goz" Goslowski, who hosted the afternoon sports talk show “Levack and Goz" on Fox Sports 980.

Longtime radio host Jaime Roberts is also gone from WTRY 98.3, where she did a morning show. Roberts was at 98.3 WTRY for more than two decades, and has spent 30-plus years in radio, working at Albany Broadcasting for 12 years before joining iHeart.

One of the largest media companies in the U.S., iHeartMedia owns 860 radio stations in more than 160 markets.

Doug Goudie 

But like many media companies, iHeart Media is struggling with advertising revenues, even during the presidential election cycle. As a result, the company revealed during its earnings conference call with analysts last week that it would cut $150 million in annual spending after cutting $50 million earlier in the year. The company was already facing $50 million in projected cost increases in 2025.

The company reported $1 billion in revenue during the third quarter of 2024, but posted a net loss of $41 million.

CEO Bob Pittman said during iHeartMedia's Nov. 7 earnings call with stock analysts that the company was leveraging technology, including artificial intelligence, across its platforms to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Pittman said this initiative was "flattening our organization, eliminating redundancies and breaking down silos."

Pittman said radio stations no longer need local on-air talent all the time. "We are increasing our relationship with the consumer, and we’re using technology to do it," he said.

Bob Pittman

"Now unfortunately, what that means is that there’s not a slot for everybody. Just because somebody is willing to live in the market doesn’t assure them that they’re the best person for that slot. Before we had this kind of technology, that was the criteria.

"Today, technology frees us of that constraint, and our programmers can now make the decision about who’s going to be the best talent in that time slot on that radio station, regardless of where they live. In the old days, it cost an enormous amount of money to try and broadcast from another town."

Goudie joined WGY in 2021 after previously hosting a show in Boston for iHeartMedia. He originally joined Kelly Lynch on the former “Doug and Kelly" show before Lynch left the station in 2021. Goudie had hosted the show by himself since then. 

Over the summer, Albany market leader Howard Greiner was named president of iHeartMedia's metro Nashville market, and the company appointed Rochester market president Bob Morgan to oversee all of iHeartMedia's upstate New York operations, which includes 39 stations and the Poughkeepsie market.