Clear Channel, the San Antonio media company that runs 850 radio stations across the country, laid off hundreds of regional staff yesterday in what Denver DJ Uncle Nasty dubbed, “National Firing Day.”
One estimate had Clear Channel clearing out around 590 positions, or 3 percent of the staff.
The company, run by CEO Bob Pittman, also houses a big outdoor-advertising division. It is trying to refashion itself for the digital age.
Clear Channel stations in New York were not affected.
“They gave me a month severance,” KBPI’s Uncle Nasty told a local blog. “That is it. Fifteen years I worked for them and helped them on their bottom line. You know, they must have thought highly of me to pay me and keep me on that long. You know what I mean? I’m just in shock.”
A company spokeswoman declined to comment on the number of people laid off.
“Like every successful business, our strategy continues to evolve as we move forward as a company; this creates some new jobs, and unfortunately eliminates others,” she said.
Radio ad revenue was expected to be flat this year, at $6.8 billion, compared with last year, despite the benefit of a hotly contested presidential election.
Moody’s analyst Scott Van den Bosch said recently the company’s $10 billion of debt due in 2016 was likely to need “a restructuring or a distressed exchange.”