It's become a holiday tradition at Bain Capital-owned Clear Channel: fire everyone you can possibly fire at the end of the year. Today's big clean-out touched markets across the country and included both on-air and support personnel. Some of the local voices lost are probably people you listen to if you're in one of these markets.
What's replacing them? Syndication. Station concentration means loss of local voices. Follow me over the golden static for more.
The closure of KPOJ in Portland and the upcoming Seattle progressive station 1090 shuttering were just the first, if most drastic, examples of Clear Channel's usual holiday douchebaggery. Today a couple dozen on-air personalities and probably twice that many support staffers lost their positions in Los Angeles, Tampa, Dallas, Miami, Orlando, Detroit, Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis, Houston, Atlanta, Seattle, San Diego, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Riverside (CA), Columbus and Austin.
Clear Channel had this to say to trade paper ALL ACCESS:
"We are constantly looking at all aspects of our business to ensure that it reflects how the best organizations work today, taking advantage of the latest cutting-edge technology and organizational structure so we can continue to operate as effectively and efficiently as possible.
"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. These are never easy decisions to make.
"In the process of making these recent changes, some employees were affected. We thank them for their service and wish them all the best for the future."
Translation: "We won't rest until every station we own across the country is staffed from San Antonio. We don't need no stinkin' local content."
ALL ACCESS is keeping a running tally of the layoffs for the interested.
If you have local content on your dial, cherish it. Who knows how long you'll have it
7:51 PM PT: Fixed to take 1090 out of that list; it's owned by CBS.