’BZ RADIO CULLS KELLER, OTHERS IN JOB CUTS
Boston’s WBZ Newsradio 1030 reportedly cut ties with longtime radio personalities on Wednesday amid an onslaught of iHeartMedia layoffs across the country, a day after 1030’s parent company announced a “technology transformation and new organizational structure.”
Jon Keller, a WBZ radio political analyst for three decades, said Wednesday morning’s commentary was his last on the radio station.
“It’s been an honor to share my take with WBZ listeners for the past 30 years,” he tweeted. “Thank you all for your attention, support and feedback.
“Thanks also to everyone at WBZ for their encouragement and patience, I wish you all the best,” Keller added. “I hope you’ll continue to follow my work on WBZ-TV.”
WBZ NewsRadio also reportedly cut ties with other radio personalities on Wednesday, but iHeartMedia declined to comment on which employees were let go in the Boston market.
“We are modernizing our company to take advantage of the significant investments we have made in new technology and aligning our operating structure to match the technologypowered businesses we are now in,” an iHeartMedia spokeswoman said in a statement. “This is another step in the company’s successful transformation as a multiple-platform 21st-century media company, and we believe it is essential to our future — it continues our momentum and adds to our competitiveness, our effectiveness and our efficiency with all our major constituencies.
“During a transition like this it’s reasonable to expect that there will be some shifts in jobs — some by location and some by function — but the number is relatively small given our overall employee base of 12,500. That said, we recognize that the loss of any job is significant; we take that responsibility seriously and have been thoughtful in the process.”
On Tuesday, iHeartMedia announced a “technology transformation and new organizational structure.”
“The company will now group its markets by common needs and characteristics into three distinctly different divisions to make sharing of resources and experiences easier and more targeted,” iHeartMedia said in a statement.