Clear Channel cutting 590 radio jobs

Source: Associated Press

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Clear Channel Communications Inc., the largest owner of U.S. radio stations, said Tuesday it is cutting 590 jobs, including some on-air personalities, in its second round of mass layoffs this year amid pressure from the recession and competition from online media.

Clear Channel's parent company, CC Media Holdings Inc., also said Tuesday that it will suspend its 401(k) match for all employees for the rest of the year, starting Friday. However, if the company hits 90 percent of its budget goals at the end of the year, the matches will be retroactively restored, a company spokeswoman said.

The latest cuts represent 2.7 percent of company's work force and affect operational jobs like engineering, accounting and customer service, all in the radio division. The company also has an outdoor advertising division, which sells items like billboard space and wasn't affected by the job cuts.

The previous cuts of 1,850 jobs came in January and were also in the radio division, mostly in sales.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gRG4cXzNCEMVX0lXyFMRDCzvboPAD97RP6C82

---

when they drop Limballs, please - someone - let me know

Both in weight and monetary values.

:D

Clear Channel gives nothing back to their local communities. The merchants know this and will not spend advertising dollars.

The listeners are subjected to the same white-bread programming on every radio station from coast to coast.

No local news, no local content and no community service. A total waste of public airwaves for the benefit of one corporation. A Ronnie RayGun wet-dream for Republicans, but a nightmare for the American people.

Dallas is OWNED by these fuckers.

It has been a breath of fresh air to move to Milwaukee. They're here, but they're not half as powerful. They don't own EVERY damned station, and play the same 5 songs every hour on every station.

There are so many great independent stations to listen to here. Even the regular college-radio station has more freedom to play stuff from 10-15 years ago that wasn't as popular at the time, and the morning show guys are funnier.

I grew to LOATHE Clear Channel living there. I'll be having a big party if I hear they wrap it up.

fingers crossed

If you're trying to cut expenses, it's usually because your not making the profit margins you need. Where does that $$ come from? SALES!!!!!!!!!!!

Just can't attract an audience with any money or brains.

They are going to lock up and block traffic!

Maybe specially programmed GPS units? In 500 feet, turn right, over cliff. Final destination, 1000 feet down.

We lost one here about three weeks ago. Really good guy named Matt Perrault. From what I hear, he basically offered to work for almost no "salary" , and just earn his take on a percentage of ad revenues. They still said no. It's much cheaper to lose the local talent, and just have 2 guys broadcast from New York or LA.

Is on the air 3 hours a day, and is the promotions manager. He is building a community relationship, does pr at almost every event in the city of 120,000. He does remotes on Friday afternoon and Saturdays and works pr at the AA baseball team.

It may not be major market, but it is a decent living, plus he gets time off to teach two media classes at the University.

the talk radio monopoly made this disaster possible- it couldn't have happened without that giant soapbox for GOP coordinated UNCONTESTED repetition

the talk radio monopoly and its 1000 stations makes democracy impossible

The on-air personalities that they've canned here in the Orlando market are on rather popular non-conservative talk shows.

It's Susan Boyle singing "Cry Me a River"...

http://www.youtube.com/swf/l.swf?swf=http%3A//s.ytimg.com/yt/swf/cps-vfl90747.swf&video_id=i5ETPG26ALE&rel=1

(an excellent version, btw)

I'm shedding no tears over Clear Channel..

:nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity:

Its the management that has a hair up their a**. I would prefer CC sold some of the properties so a (pardon the pun) "clear thinking" broadcast company (if you catch my drift) could better serve the community. Last I heard, CC owns well over 1000 stations. 1200 I believe. And at one time they had 1500 stations. Geezzz. How greedy can you get?

The Clear Channel business model is a total failure, mostly because the entire enterprise came out of the idea that you could run 100 radio stations for the price of one. You can’t synergize, monetize, homogenize, commoditize and whatever other izes I have missed your way to a profit when the underlying product sucks.

Their problems come out of not having adaquate resources to do anything even marginally well.

Sirius all the way!

Gosh - this is so true for EVERYTHING the repukes have attempted to do everywhere. They slap a discredited "business" model to every function to "ize" it. This includes government, education, the health industry, and the "public" airwaves. And when that function fails, they milk whatever is left and slink away with their ill-begotten gains. It's a shame that I have to pay (XM) to hear other points of view that are not from the RW lunatic fringe. Here in Philly, outside of the black talk radio station and college stations, there's nothing but Clear Channel and Westwood One RW garbage.

In Wichita, Kansas, KRBB-FM (97.9) cut Kathy Deane, the producer of the top-rated “Brett and Tracy Morning Show,” who was “escorted to her car.” The reaction, according to the Wichita Eagle newspaper, was that morning show host Brett Harris called “corporate to see if he can pay Deane out of his own pocket to produce the show off site.” In Chicago, the Sun-Times called it a radio “Bloodbath.” WVAZ-FM (102.7) midday host Troi Tyler & evening DJ Irene Mojica left the building, along with WGCI-FM (107.5) late night DJ Ericka “Sundance” Campbell. So did WKSC-FM (103.5) morning teamer Jeff “Smash” Murray, and WNUA-FM (95.5) utility player Bill Cochran. In Pittsburgh, a Clear Channel executive wouldn’t specify how many layoffs happened in the “Steel City,” except to tell the Tribune-Review, “Clear Channel Radio has to adjust its business to the realities of the current economy and advertising market.” Ironically, that is the exact same statement word-for-word the person in charge of Oklahoma City’s Clear Channel stations told the Oklahoman. In Rochester, Minnesota, popular KMFX-FM (102.5) morning host Jake Duffy was let go after a 4-year run. In Memphis, WREC-AM (600) pink slips longtime afternoon talk host Mike Fleming. The Arizona Daily Star reports there were firings in Tucson, but no names were given. Director of Engineering Steve Riggs was cut loose from Clear Channel Boston, after 18 years of service.

http://www.radio-info.com/

Three black female d.j.'s -- V-103 Radio's midday host Troi Tyler, its evening voice Irene Mojica and WGCI overnighter Ericka "Sundance" Campbell were let go by Clear Channel Communications Tuesday in what some industry observers described as "a bloodbath" in local black radio.

The cuts, among 590 radio jobs the company slashed Tuesday, follow its dropping of V-103's popular Tom Joyner morning show, replaced in March by the Steve Harvey show simulcast on WGCI.

"Like all media companies, Clear Channel Radio has to adjust its business to the realities of the current economy and advertising market," the company said in a statement. "The changes we've made today complete a process begun in January."

Tyler is the sultry voice behind the 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. R&B and Old School. Mojica is the flirtatious and comedic diva of soft listening from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., who grabbed headlines when she sued then WGCI owner Gannett Co. for sex and race discrimination in 1990. And Sundance, on from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m., had made her mark with a young, hip-hop crowd.

http://www.suntimes.com/business/1549357,CST-NWS-radio29web.article