Clear Channel Cuts 590 More Jobs, Five In OKC
Clear Channel Communications, one of the nation's largest radio station owners, said Tuesday it is cutting 590 jobs, including some on-air personalities, in its second round of layoffs this year due to reduced budgets by major advertisers. The cuts brings the total of jobs cut by the company this year to 2,540. There's no immediate definitive word on how the company's Oklahoma City stations, including the news/talk flagship KTOK, is affected, if at all. The company also operates several FM stations. Word from industry sources, however, indicates that five employees were cut, including two FM on-air personalities. There's been on official confirmation of that, however.
Clear Channel's parent company, CC Media Holdings Inc., also said it will suspend its 401(k) match for all employees for the rest of the year, starting Friday. However, if the company hits 90 percent of its budget goals at the end of the year, the matches will be retroactively restored, a company spokeswoman quoted by The Associated Press said.
The latest cuts represent 2.7 percent of company's total work force of 22,100. They affect operational jobs like engineering, accounting and customer service, all in the radio division. The company also has an outdoor advertising division, which sells items like billboard space and wasn't affected by the job cuts.
The previous cuts of 1,850 jobs came in January; that was 9 percent of its workforce, and were also in the radio division, mostly in sales. In Oklahoma City, two veteran KTOK producers with 40 years of service between them were among those who lost their jobs.
Clear Channel didn't break out the latest cuts by geography or job function, but said they do include some on-air personalities, whose identities weren't disclosed. Employees were notified of the cuts Tuesday. In Oklahoma City, the word came from Market Manager Bill Hurley during a hastily-called all-employees meeting late this morning.
posted by Mike McCarville @ 7:43 PM
