Audacy has reduced its workforce by 2%, according to a company spokesperson. Affected employees included a Boston sports reporter who was laid off the day before today’s NFL Draft, a Chicago afternoon news anchor and roughly 98 other employees, according to reports.
“It’s like, ‘How many layoffs can they go through before there’s nobody left?’” says an employee, requesting anonymity to avoid any severance-package conflicts, who was informed by a manager that their position had been “eliminated” on a Zoom call Wednesday (April 24).
An Audacy spokesperson said in a statement that the “difficult but necessary decisions” will “best position our company for long-term growth.” The broadcast giant filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring in January.
Broadcast companies have struggled in recent years, with their share of music listening plunging from 24% in the fourth quarter of 2016 to 13% late last year, according to MusicWatch, a market research company focusing on entertainment. Listeners are shifting away from old-school radio stations towards on-demand streaming, and Nielsen Media Research shows listenership has dropped from 89% of adult Americans in 2019 to 82% in 2022. Responding to these trends, major labels have been reducing their radio-promotions staffs throughout 2024.
Still, the Audacy spokesperson says: “We are on track to emerge as a stronger and healthier company, well positioned for a bright future as a differentiated, scaled industry leader with the industry’s strongest balance sheet.” The company, which owns 220 radio stations in 47 markets, is trying to steer out of bankruptcy and reduce its $1.9 billion in debt by 80%, to $350 million, pending FCC approval.
“It’s just unfortunate, the way everything shook out, with the company going up for bankruptcy and so many different turnovers,” says the laid-off employee. “It lowered morale a lot. Luckily, the people I worked for were great and supported each other through the ups and downs.”
