US radio broadcaster Audacy has laid off as many as 300 employees across the company in a cost-cutting initiative after it emerged from bankruptcy last year.<\/p>\n
The layoffs were reported by multiple news outlets, citing sources. A source told<\/a> Variety <\/i>that about 200<\/b> employees are affected, while Digital Music News <\/i>reported<\/a> that up to 300<\/b> staff will be let go.<\/p>\n The layoffs, which reportedly started on Thursday (March 6), mark the company\u2019s first significant restructuring move since completing<\/a> Chapter 11 proceedings in September 2024.<\/p>\n During its financial restructuring, Audacy was able to equitize about $1.6 billion<\/b> of funded debt, reducing it by about 80%<\/b> from approximately $1.9 billion<\/b> to $350 millio<\/b>n<\/strong>, the company said.<\/p>\n The workforce reduction reportedly spans a number of markets and departments, affecting both on-air talent and behind-the-scenes staff across Audacy’s portfolio of more than 230<\/b> radio stations<\/a> across 47<\/b> US markets.<\/p>\n Among those let go were prominent personalities from major market stations including WCBS-FM in New York, WMJX in Boston, and WOGL in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n At WHHL in St. Louis, Missouri, the entire staff was eliminated as the entire station prepares to abandon its hip-hop format, Radio Insight <\/i>reported<\/a>. The news outlet also reported, citing multiple sources, that the station will soon simulcast News\/Talk 1120 KMOX, coinciding with the start of the 2025 MLB season later this month.<\/p>\n Separately, Barrett Media <\/i>reported<\/a> that J.R. Cru<\/b>z<\/strong>, the morning show host at Classic Hits 103.7 KEYN Wichita, was the first to exit. However, Cruz said he left Audacy \u201cdue to the medical issues I am dealing with.\u201d<\/p>\n The news outlet also reported that the Ponch and Nikki Show<\/i> for 99.7 The Point in Kansas City have also been affected. Other staff affected by the layoffs reportedly included KNX News 97.1 in Los Angeles, where Program Director Alex<\/b> Silverman<\/b><\/a>\u00a0and investigative reporter Charles<\/b> Feldman<\/b>, are leaving, and Sportsradio 610 Houston, where reporter and host Adam<\/b> Spolane<\/b><\/a>\u00a0is departing, along with others.<\/p>\n \u201cAudacy has made workforce reductions to ensure a strong and resilient future for the business. We are streamlining resources to stay competitive in a rapidly evolving media landscape and to best position Audacy to continue serving listeners and advertisers with excellence,\u201d a representative from Audacy told Variety, <\/i>while declining to confirm the number of staff affected.<\/p>\n The reported cuts come amid significant leadership changes at the company. Former CEO David Field <\/b>stepped down in January after 27 years, and was succeeded on an interim basis by board member Kelli<\/b> Turner<\/b>, while Chief Financial Officer Rich Schmaeling<\/b> resigned in February, with no immediate replacement announced.<\/p>\n Formerly known as Entercom<\/b> Communications<\/b>, Audacy filed<\/a> for bankruptcy protection last year to address its debt burden. It came as the company grappled with declining advertising revenue in the traditional radio market.<\/p>\n The company emerged<\/a> from bankruptcy in September under new ownership led by Soros Fund Management <\/b>as the controlling shareholder.<\/p>\n The layoffs at Audacy come amid mounting challenges in the radio industry as ad spending shifts to digital platforms and streaming services capture growing portions of audio consumption.<\/p>\n Last year, US satellite radio service SiriusXM<\/b> laid off<\/a> roughly 3%<\/b> of its staff, less than a year after reducing<\/a> its headcount by 8%<\/b>, affecting 475<\/b> roles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Audacy has significantly reduces its debt and is now focused on ‘streamlining resources to stay competitive’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":225779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[131556,131557,130655],"class_list":["post-225759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-audacy","tag-bankruptcy","tag-layoffs"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}