Is This the Biggest Radio Layoff Ever?

Let's look at the numbers

(Updated numbers are below.)

The biggest layoff in radio history may be happening right now.

Or at least the biggest purge of on-air talent and programmers.

The layoffs at iHeartMedia began June 23, and they’re still going. The list keeps getting longer. RadioInsight, which has been tracking the cuts market by market, says it’s nowhere near complete.

I’ve been through iHeart cuts myself. Twice.

I was laid off by iHeart at KBIG, and years later again at KFI. I know what it feels like to get the call, clear out the desk, and wonder what’s next. This week, hundreds of people across the country are going through the same thing.

The cuts are part of a two-stage plan to remove $150 million in annual expenses. The company had already targeted $100 million in savings. Now it’s looking for another $50 million.

Markets including Atlantic City, Cedar Rapids, Erie, Fort Collins, Springfield, and Spokane have lost all of their remaining local on-air talent. Larger markets like Indianapolis and St. Louis have been reduced to just a handful of local hosts.

So is this the biggest layoff in radio history?

It depends on how you measure it.

By total headcount, probably not. The Clear Channel layoffs of 2009 eliminated 1,850 jobs. The 2020 iHeart cuts were also enormous, with estimates ranging from hundreds to more than 2,000 employees.

But this round is different.

It’s aimed almost entirely at the people who make radio: hosts, programmers, and local talent. RadioInsight has called it “the biggest purge in the history of the industry” because of the percentage of those jobs disappearing, not necessarily the total number of employees.

After years of previous layoffs, there weren’t many people left to cut. This round reaches deeper into the people listeners actually hear every day.

The final numbers aren’t known because iHeartMedia isn’t releasing them. Much of what’s being reported is coming directly from the people affected. And with the layoffs still underway, nobody outside the company knows where they’ll end.

What we do know is that the list keeps growing. By the time you read this, it’s already out of date. More names are being added hourly.

This story isn’t finished yet.

And for more on this, check out Archer & Feldman on YouTube. Chris Little, the former news director of KFI Los Angeles, joins us to talk about his experiences being laid off. The episode drops Monday morning.

UPDATE — July 4, 2026

The list kept growing through the holiday week, just like we expected.

Since this piece was published, new names have surfaced from Auburn, Providence, Salt Lake City, Salisbury, Seattle, and Anchorage.

Lance Venta of RadioInsight, who has tracked this industry since 1997, has stopped hedging. “This will go down as the worst layoff round in radio history when all is done,” he posted this week — on par with or worse than the infamous 2009 and 2020 bloodlettings.

Here’s some sad math. iHeartMedia employed 11,400 people at the end of 2019. By the end of 2025, that number was 9,550 — more than 1,850 jobs gone before this round even began. Cut a hundred people from a company of eleven thousand, and it’s a bad week. Cut them from what’s left after six years of cutting, and you’re carving bone.

Still no comment and no numbers from iHeart.