a brutal day at iHeart

[tuttle]

It's been a brutal day at iHeart stations all over the country; any causalities in Salt Lake City?

[CAwasinNJ]

It's always hard when a company does a reorg/layoffs but at least iHeart didn't do it right before Christmas like companies usually do. That's something.

The best source I know of listing who's now "on the beach" is All Access. www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/192865/iheartmedia-revamp-costs-jobs-here-s-who-we-know-i I don't see anything right now in Utah.

[henry]

This sounds terrible to say ...

But there aren't too many people left at IHM SLC to lay off.

[drpepper]

Earlier i saw a post Radioinsight had shared from jadd naamani, a now former PD/afternoon host of 92.1 KTBT Tulsa who posted, 'Today i took the l. Tomorrow, i'll bounce back."
a reference to a song from a few years ago, but loved the resolve. it stuck with me all day. Thought i'd share that in the midst of otherwise sad news for many.

[Timmy]

I saw a post from Aaron Salazar here in SLC who said he was out. That's the only one I've seen so far.

[amanuensis]

From what I have read, iHeart will be dividing stations into three groups: major markets, mid-majors, and everyone else. I assume that SLC is mid-major for their purposes. Correct?

If so, then is more voice tracking on its way? Perhaps through not replacing a DJ who retires or moves on? Because from what I could tell, it sounds like "live and local" only now applies to iHeart's large market stations. I guess we should pity the "everyone else" markets that are apparently where the majority of layoffs have so far taken place. It sounds like they are going to mostly generic satellite feeds.

[CAwasinNJ]

It sounds to me like this move is all about consolidation and reusing as much as possible. A cookie cutter approach is a terrible idea from a programming point of view, but Bob Pittman is the CEO and to say I haven't had any respect for him for decades would be a severe understatement.

[David]

It appears that all of iHeart's HD2 channels are another casualty of their budget cuts. I'm not receiving any HD2 channels on any iHeart FM stations now, just the main HD channels.

[Terry]

For what it’s worth, KAAZ 106.7 is still broadcasting “Alt Radio” on HD2. And KJMY 99.5 is still broadcasting “Easy 99.1” on their HD2. These are the only two SLC iHeart HD2 stations that have been on for months. All the others went away months ago. Digital radio is near dead in the USA.

[David]

Thanks for the info, Terry. I reoriented the antenna on my Sangean HD radio, and I was able to pick up the two subchannels you mentioned. I live in an area that's a "black hole" for most TV & FM signals, and I usually have to fiddle with antennas to get the best reception. I'm liking what I've heard so far on Easy 99.1.

[tuttle]

While losses locally have been minimal, the ongoing list is heartbreaking:

radioinsight.com/headlines/183270/ongoing-list-of-those-affected-by-iheartmedia-cuts/

[CAwasinNJ]

The iHeart cuts were all about doing the "same" with fewer people mostly through technology. Lance Venta had a really good piece on what really happened and the reasoning behind it. radioinsight.com/blogs/183487/what-led-to-this-weeks-actions-by-iheartmedia/

As I said before, I think this is a terrible idea. The thing that local radio does best and what differentiates it from everything else is the ability to BE local. Chat about the local sports teams or a big upcoming event or a local person in the news. That's something an MP3 player or Spotify or SiriusXM can't do and that creates engagement with the local audience. The audience actually cares about the people on the air and that generates loyalty with provides ratings numbers and revenue. Take a look at what happened in Des Moines when local personalities were cut from iHeart's sports station there. Listeners complained and the local manager convinced corporate to hire them back. If there's some generic personality on air, how much are the listeners going to care?