CLOUDED VISION

Cumulus CEO tries asking staff for sales help

Desperate Cumulus CEO Mary Berner wants her staffers to become radio-active.

Berner, with her company’s shares and revenue sagging, is asking all staff members in a recent company video to tap friends and family to generate leads for the firm’s ad sales unit, according to sources, who described the wacky video to The Post.

The video features an animated howling wolf, who approaches coffee shop owners to talk up the benefits of radio ads, sources said.

Berner tells staff that if each of the firm’s 6,000 employees brings in one sales lead per quarter, it could result in $240 million in new revenue, sources said.

That’s 20 percent of 2015 revenues. The cash could certainly come in handy, as revenue was down 2 percent in the first nine months of 2016.

To motivate staff, Cumulus is offering the person with the most leads prizes like becoming CEO for a day, or Super Bowl tickets.

Cumulus — the third-largest radio station owner in the country, behind iHeart Media and the soon-to-combine CBS/Entercom — did not meet its 2016 budget, Berner admitted in the video.

With revenue falling and $2.4 billion in debt choking cash flow, Cumulus shares are down nearly 80 percent over the past 12 months — to 51 cents a share at Friday’s close — and there have been whispers of a possible Chapter 11 filing.

Cumulus reports its fourthquarter and full-year earnings on March 16.

Berner, who steered Reader’s Digest through two bankruptcy proceedings, was hired in October 2015.

In late February 2016, a desperation move by Berner that would have allowed Cumu- lus to pay down some debt was blocked by a judge after protests from J.P. Morgan.

Cumulus owns roughly 450 radio stations, including New York’s WPLJ and WABC. Ebitda fell 37.9 percent in the third quarter, to $43.8 billion.

Cumulus also has syndication company Westwood One, which represents talent including Michael Savage, Jim Bohannon and Mark Levin.

Berner’s video isn’t the first instance of her resorting to nontraditional means to boost morale.

In 2011, while at Reader’s Digest, Berner asked senior staff to eat bugs as part of a Halloween event.

The Cumulus sales video features an animated wolf named Sulumuc — which is Cumulus spelled backward — approaching a local coffee shop owner to talk about ra- dio advertising.

At the end of the video, Berner is seen giving high fives to her staff, who howl like wolves, sources said.

“Being a leader is so easy, even a freakin’ wolf can do it,” said Berner in the video.

A Cumulus spokeswoman declined comment.

Cumulus’ biggest shareholders include Crestview Partners and the Dickey family.