"Maybe We Got Out Just in Time"
More job cuts at iHeart. More job losses if the Paramount/Warner Bros merger goes through.
iHeartMedia has begun another round of layoffs.
The company says the cuts are part of a programming realignment designed to make operations faster and more efficient. The specifics are still coming out, but the pattern is familiar. Another major broadcaster is reducing headcount while asking fewer people to do more work.
A year ago, I was on the receiving end of a similar decision.
Audacy eliminated my position at KNX. It wasn’t my first layoff. If you’ve been in broadcasting long enough, you’ve probably been through it yourself. Maybe a whole string of them.
No matter how many times it happens, it’s still a punch to the gut.
What surprises me is what I’ve heard from former colleagues since then: “Maybe we got out just in time.”
I’ve heard some version of that sentence over and over during the past year.
It’s not because they wanted to leave. People in this business, whether they say they love it or hate it, are drawn to it. It’s where they wanted to be. It defined their lives. But they say “maybe we got out just in time” because they look at what’s happening across broadcasting and wonder where the next round of cuts will land.
Radio stations continue operating with smaller staffs. Television newsrooms continue consolidating. Local journalism keeps losing positions. Every quarter seems to bring another restructuring, another merger, another promise of “efficiencies.”
Now comes the proposed merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery.
A Los Angeles County report estimates the deal could put nearly 2,500 jobs at risk in Los Angeles alone, with thousands more potentially affected worldwide as the combined company eliminates overlapping operations.
Eventually, somebody starts asking whether you need two news divisions.
The concerns aren’t limited to Los Angeles. In Atlanta, where CNN remains one of the region’s major media employers, industry observers are already talking about the possibility of additional cuts on top of several years of downsizing.
There are still outstanding journalists doing great work. There are still strong radio stations, television stations, and newsrooms. But there are fewer jobs than there used to be.
That’s one reason Charles Feldman and I wanted to talk with Bob Butler, Vice President of SAG-AFTRA’s broadcast division and a longtime California broadcaster, on the latest episode of Archer & Feldman.
We discuss what the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger could mean for journalists, broadcasters, and media workers in California and across the country. We also talk about the larger forces reshaping the business and why so many people inside media are concerned about what comes next.
Watch the full episode here:
For thousands of people working in radio, television, and digital media, these aren’t just business stories. They’re future staff meetings.
There’s not one employee below the C-suite who hasn’t had the thought:
“I’m next.”